Day 62: Hiking Til Sundown
December 11, 2019
Kilometers: 1570.1-1603.9
Waitewaewae Hut to Ariki Lodge Motel in Waikinae
I woke Ethan up at 7:25 and we packed up. It’s awesome how quick it takes us to pack up when we are in a hut as opposed to tenting. At 8 we were back on the trail, with Matthew leaving a bit behind us.
The first 6 hours of the day were super slow going. From the hut we started by climbing up through dense forest that had a bunch of stream crossings. Luckily none of them required getting our feet wet.
After a few hours we got to a fork in the trail. The original TA trail was taken out by a rockslide. However, it was still open and possible to take that route although it was mostly unmarked. We opted for the new route that climbed above the rockslide and came down on the other side. It was obvious this was a newer trail as it wasn’t very well cut. There were a lot of obstacles, like fallen trees, that made it difficult.
Around 11am we rejoined the TA track. The track got much easier as it was an old tram track used for logging and other purposes. It was cool to see what was left of the tram system.
Eventually the trail led us out of the bush and onto a ridge. We could see the Otaki River below us, with large cliffs running down into the water.
The ridge slowly descended down to the river where another swing bridge was waiting. I set out across the bridge stopping in the middle to take some pictures and videos.
After another kilometer of walking I came to another bridge. This one was much bigger, but apparently can’t hold more than 15 people. It’s not enough to just say the maximum is 15 people, pictures work best.
It was just after noon so I set my pack down and waited for Ethan to join me so we could eat lunch. We finished off most of the remainder of lunch food and were off again. We walked along a gravel road for a kilometer that led us to the next track.
The last big climb of the day was Pukeatua. It gains 700 meters over 6 kilometers but the bulk of the climb is done in the first km and a half. It was very hot and sunny out, and Ethan and I both agreed that the climb was the most sweating we’ve done so far on the trip. We didn’t both reach the top until about 4pm. At the summit we got views of the coast to the east, the South Island and the Tararua range that we had just come through.
At the summit we regained cell service and called a motel to make a reservation for the night in the town of Waikinae. It was still 17km away and already after 4pm so we didn’t take much break and set off once again.
The next 6km took us down through forest and eventually to a logging road. It was actually very pretty, except for, you know, the logging part of it.
We finally reached the road and still had 11km from there to town. We did the walk pretty quick for how tired we were. At 7:30ish we arrived at the motel and checked in. We tossed our stuff down and headed over to the countdown right across the street. We bought a rotisserie chicken and garlic bread to go with the pesto pasta we already had with us. We also got some Mac n cheese bites as appetizers, some Coronas, and a bunch of fruit for breakfast.
The room had a nice kitchenette and we made a huge meal for ourselves. We watched some TV, caught up on blog posts and were off to sleep.
According to the health app on my iPhone, in the last three days we have climbed 1,399 floors (almost 20,000 ft ascended). The ascents and descents across mountainous and dense forest terrain has been hard and very slow going at times. However, with that last section behind us we have conquered all the hardest obstacles on the north island. Onward to Wellington!
-Alex