Day 98: It’s All Downhill From Here

January 16, 2020 

Kilometers: 2332.3-2353.1

Stone Hut to Camp Stream Hut

I woke up just before seven and Charlie and Peter were already packed up and ready to go. The ladies were already gone. I quickly packed up my stuff, ate some breakfast bars and was ready to go by 7:15. The sun wasn’t over the mountains in the valley yet so it was a little chilly. We had a few river crossings first thing so our feet were freezing. 

We made our way up the valley as the sun rose. The first 6kms weren’t too steep and we quickly made our way up to the next hut, Royal Hut. I took a quick break there and had a snack.

From the hut the real climb to Stag Saddle began. It was 4.7kms and over 600 meters. It started up a steeper creek through thick tussock. 

We arrived at Stag Saddle at 10:15. Janina and Tracey were waiting for us at the top. We all ate an early lunch. The views from the top was great. We could see Lake Tekapo below us surrounded by a rocky landscape. 

From the saddle we had two options. The official trail went down into the valley. However an alternative route which everyone recommends went up onto a ridge. We chose the alternative route, which put us over 2,000 meters high. This was the best part of the day. When we got to the ridge we could see huge snowy mountains, one of which was Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealand. 

Once on top of the ridge we had a straight shot down the spine towards Lake Tekapo. We had a huge tussock valley to the left, the beautiful blue lake in front of us and huge snowy mountains to our right. It was one of the best views of the trip. 

As we walked along the ridge we had cell reception so I booked a bed at the YHA for tomorrow night. After about 8kms on the ridge we dropped down into the valley on our left. The hut wasn’t far from there. 

We arrived at the hut at 1:30 and had a bath. Tracey decided to push on as she is in a race against time with a flight leaving New Zealand on February 4, so she is trying to finish by then.

As we all laid around and relaxed I studied the map and trail notes to devise a plan to finish the trail by my 120 day goal. I think it’s definitely doable. 

For dinner I had more pesto pasta. Pasta comes in a 500 gram bag so as a solid hiker I kinda have to eat it two days in a row if I get it. Today I added some cheese to it, which made it even better than last night. I had a few squares of chocolate for desert. 

This area near Lake Tekapo is a world heritage dark sky area for the best stargazing in the world. Most of us have made plans to wake up at some point in the night to check it out.