Day 94: Rompin Thru Rohan
January 12, 2020
Kilometers: 2243.7-2260.2
Methven Campground to Comyns Hut
I want to expand a bit on the Rakaia River hazard zone that forced us to organize a shuttle around the river. The Rakaia River is a large braided river and although it can be shallow when the water level is low it can still be dangerous. From one side of the river to the other is multiple kms and takes people about 2 hours to cross. However, the water level can rise by feet in the span of just an hour. It could be raining somewhere out of view in the high country and that water could make its way into the river, causing it to rise to impassable levels while someone is trying to cross it. Imagine being in the middle of the river as it rises and you are an hour away from either side. This is why it’s considered a hazard zone and people are encouraged to go around it, not through it.
We woke up in our little personal cabin pods and packed up. I went to the 4square to grab some breakfast. When I returned the three of us guys got in our ride that would take us to the other side of the Rakaia. The ladies had gotten an earlier ride from the same people.
It was almost an hour from Methven to where the trail resumes. The road was gravel for most of it, with small stream crossings running across the road at some points. We were dropped off at about 9 and it began to drizzle. We put on our pack covers but neglected to put on rain jackets as we were about to have a long climb ahead of us and didn’t want to overheat.
The track started over farmland but quickly led us to a valley, which we would climb through for the next 6kms. Today the trail led us through Rohan. Rohan is a fictional place in the Lord of the Ring series, and they did some of their filming in the area we walked today. It is a very vast land with large mountains and tussock grasses.
The wind was powerful coming down the valley and the rain created more adversity but we pushed up the mountain to the saddle. The 800 meter climb over about 6kms was steep at times but we’ve hiked much worse.
As we arrived at the saddle the rain stopped. The sun began to peak its head out but the wind was still strong. From the saddle we had officially entered Rohan. It was quite a scene.
From the top we only had about 9kms left for the day. I ate a candy bar and carried on as it was mostly downhill from there.
We arrived at the hut at 12:30, just in time for lunch. Janina and Tracey were already inside eating. We joined them, snacking on the heavy items we had been carrying.
My pack today was the heaviest I could imagine it weighing for only hiking three days and two nights. We have planned an elaborate chicken curry for dinner and pancakes and bacon for breakfast tomorrow. I was carrying at least 2kgs (4.4 pounds) of ingredients for these meals. I’m happy I won’t have to carry this extra weight tomorrow.
After lunch we went down to the river to bath. This was followed by an afternoon nap. The five of us played Rikiki afterward.
We were also joined by a German hiker who had just finished the TA but came back to do this section because the weather forced him to skip it earlier on. He hiked the TA in 100 days, hiked the PCT in 108 last season and is flying to Atlanta to start the AT in February. Basically he is Germany first team all thru hiker.
We then got started on dinner. The curry had four chicken breasts, two peppers, two onions, one can of coconut milk, one mango, two carrots, and a can of pineapple, all served over a bunch of basmati rice.
There was the perfect amount to stuff all of us and it was awesome. Worth carrying it all day for sure.
Tomorrow morning it’s supposed to rain. We will look to wait out the rain a bit as we have another shorter type of day and have a bunch of pancakes and bacon to make.