Day 39: A Thousand Kilometers Walked
November 18th, 2019
Kilometers: 964.6-1006.3
Piropiro Campsite to Ngakonui-Ongarue Rd Campsite
We woke up this morning and were surprised by the fact that not only was it not currently raining, but our tents were dry despite the rain last night. We had been expecting that today would be abysmal but it was off to a surprisingly good start.
Alex and I each had a pita wrapped chorizo and a few bars for breakfast while we quickly broke down camp. We knew it was going to rain and some point and the more we could walk before then, the better.
We have a new hiker in our group today, Henry. He’s a kiwi who happens to be a big Denver Broncos fan. All 6 of us were off before 8am.
The walk was easy going from the start and we were able to power through. We quickly came to our first suspension bridge of the day.
The bridge was 141 meters long and over 50 meters above the creek below. As someone who doesn’t love heights, taking the pictures while the bridge was swaying was a bit terrifying.
After a few more kilometers of the great tramping track, we stopped at a shelter for first lunch. Alex and I had a decent amount of lunch food still so we were able to eat mostly as we pleased.
At about 11:00am, we set back off.
Shortly afterwards, the rain, which had held off up until this point, began.
It rained and rained hard. Usually, storms here seem to start and stop within a matter of minutes meaning putting on full rain gear is a waste of time. This was not one of those times.
After 10 minutes of constant rain, I stopped and put on both my rain gear and my rain paints. Matthew passed me but decided to not put on any rain gear. The rain lasted for over three hours and the wind battered us the whole time.
The walk during the rain was all along what used to be a logging railway meaning there were some really cool pathways where stone had been blown away for the tracks.
We had agreed to meet at a suspension bridge for 2nd lunch but with the rain still falling heavily, Alex and Matthew had pushed on to the next shelter.
I found them just before 3 huddled in a small shelter awaiting my arrival. Alex seemed to be in good spirits waiting for food. Matthew never put on his jacket and was soaked through by the time he reached the shelter. He was drinking hot chocolate and had changed clothes. We ate quickly and took off with Henry and Peter once they had arrived. While we were in the shelter, the rain finally let up. We ate just before a section called The Spiral.
Alex and I were mildly disappointed to find out it was actually a spiral in the railroad involving a tunnel as opposed to a HotWheels loop as the picture indicated. Regardless, the tunnel was very cool.
Following the spiral, we walked for a short distance before hitting our biggest milestone yet, 1000 kilometers walked.
With the rain gone, we cruised the last 6 kilometers to camp to complete our near 42km day.
Exhausted, we set up our tents and took liter showers. Freezing from the rain and our showers, we made chicken soup using our bullion cubes and some Cous Cous from the extra dinner we had. It instantly warmed us back up.
For dinner tonight, we had pasta with pesto and some sunflowers seeds we toasted in the skillet. I only managed to eat one serving as the soup had filled me up quite a bit.
Tomorrow we will be back in town with a motel and a day off the following day. We have walked for 13 days straight and over 450km since our last day off. We have earned this break.
-Ethan