Day 115: We Bring the Good Weather with Us
February 2, 2020
Kilometers: 2868.5-2897.0
Merriview Hut to Martins Hut
Throughout the whole South Island I have been constantly saying that we bring the good weather with us. I have not had to walk in serious rain the whole South Island. I haven’t had to set up a wet tent the whole trip. We have gotten extremely lucky with the weather. The forecasts have called for much more rain they we’ve received. After we wake up to find another rainy forecast wrong and clear skies above I yell “we bring the good weather with us!”
Cockily acting like we only have good luck is a joke. I know that I am basically asking for Mother Nature to spite us. Yet, to this point we have cruised down the South Island in sunny weather.
I woke a few times during the night to the rain falling on the metal hut roof. I was happy we were in a hut and not a tent. The three of us were up at 6:40. I ate an apple, smoothie drink and a danish that the guys had picked up for me from the store yesterday. As we packed it was only drizzling.
We started walking at 7:15 and the rain stopped. Were we about to get lucky again? Although it was cloudy I decided to shed my rain jacket as I walked down the gravel road.
The gravel road came to an end after 7kms and the Longwood Forest track began. We started climbing to the summit as the rain still held off. The climb was not nearly as hard as I had expected and the muddiness was overrated. It was very foggy and humid, which caused me to sweat quite a bit to get to the top.
I got to the top in good time and stood next to the radio tower as the fog rolled over the summit. Charlie joined me on the summit not long after.
On the summit we got service. So I spent some time up there before continuing. When I restarted I walked down a road towards a quarry. The fog was super thick and I could barely seen in front of me.
After I descended to the quarry the trail turned back into the woods and climbed steeply. It was about a 300 meter climb over a km. I was happy the rain still hadn’t started as I could climb without a rain jacket on.
I arrived at the top, which was just shrubs covered with fog. This is the second time I should have been able to see the ocean to the south but the fog prevented it. This was our last climb of the trip. We will be basically at sea level for the last three days.
As I walked across the mountain top the rain finally started for real. I threw on my rain jacket and picked up my pace. The mud did increase over the course of the day. At one point I stepped into mud and sunk past my knee.
I didn’t take many pictures for the rest of the hike as the rain soaked me to the bone. On my way down to the hut I did break the handle of one of my hiking poles. I am surprised that my poles have made it this far. Each of the climbs the last few days I have been waiting for them to give out on me. I think some glue and duct tape can fix it but they will not be making the trip with me back to the states.
I arrived at the hut just after 1. I stepped into the small four bunk hut to find two Americans hiking nobo. We talked for awhile as I ate my lunch. All the nobo hikers we are passing have plenty of questions to ask us about the trail.
We all relaxed and tried to dry our stuff out this afternoon. Peter made a fire, which was impressive with how wet everything was and it helped dry our socks nicely.
The hut is small and not one of the nicer ones we’ve stayed in. It was actually voted “worst hut we’ve stayed in” by Team Belgium. The nice way of describing it would that it definitely lot of character. Also it smells like piss.
For dinner I had pesto pasta. Tomorrow night we will be eating food at a restaurant in civilization, that’ll be fun.