The Tararuas

Thanks to Bryan and Erin at Further Faster run shop in Christchurch, I was able to fix my left foot with new inserts. It was three days of road walking from Whanganui to Palmerston North with a quick stopover in Fielding to pick up the inserts. I had the inserts shipped to the Fielding Holiday Park but when I got there it looked abandoned. It was a creepy place and I never could get the manager on the phone. I pounded on the doors and walked around the park and asked a few of the residents and they all said that they never see the manager. It the nick of time, a cleaning person showed up and she let me into the office to grab the inserts. As soon as I put them in I felt so much better.

I got into Palmerston North and treated myself to a big lunch and a day at the barber shop. I had him take off my beard and he played around with some different looks – first a big goatee, then a handlebar mustache and finally a soul patch before a fresh clean shaven face. It felt great to have a new look and I set off from Palmerston to meet my new hiking buddy Kazu at a campsite about twelve miles out of town at the entrance to the infamous Tararua Mountains. Kazu is a great hiking buddy – he is a nineteen year old student from Belgium but he seems like an old soul. He is a great hike planner and very disciplined and fast paced. He is eating only muesli out of huge bags for every meal and snack. I don’t know how he does it but it seems to be working for him.

As we set off for the next four days we had beautiful weather. The trails are very tough in this range. Very muddy, rocky and covered in slick tree roots. It feels more like climbing at times as we haul ourselves up and over obstacles all day. The pace is super slow and we hike thirteen hours the first two days with just a quick thirty minute break for lunch. We had been checking the weather and there was a huge storm coming on Sunday so we were trying to be to get as many of the big climbs behind us as possible. We were treated to some fabulous wide open views after a tough ridge climb on Saturday. I’m not a huge fan of heights and I had to focus really hard on my breathing and footsteps as we hiked along the narrow path with steep drops on either side.

We got into the Draco hut on Saturday night and awoke to dense fog and high winds. Our goal was to try to get up and over Mount Crawford. As we started the climb, the rain started coming down really hard and the winds were pushing us around on the narrow trails. We got lost twice and I finally turned to Kazu and yelled over the wind that we needed to find shelter quick. I pulled out my phone and we were coming up on a hut called Nichols. We made a quick but technical descent into the hut and got out of the weather. We were soaked and freezing so we stripped down and got into our sleeping bags to warm up. Another hiker named Isobel was hunkered down there too alone and she was so happy for the company.

After we warmed up, we did an inventory of our food and it was tight. I had one extra meal with me but I had to start rationing immediately. We stayed in our sleeping bags for most of the day and anxiously checked the weather. The rain and wind was intense. It poured constantly more than twenty four hours. We got up early on Monday and the wind had died down and the rain had slowed to a trickle. The ascent up the mountain was tricky but doable. The way down the other side was so slow. It was about four miles of steep and muddy bushwhacking. I made a bad choice at one intersection and found myself waist deep in thick cold mud.

After we got off of the high peak, I felt better. I came up with a plan for my remaining food and decided that I needed to push into town that day. It was another twenty two miles of hard hiking but I really needed to get more calories on me rather than risk another day in a shelter. I stopped and made my last ramen and chicken meal and set off with it in my thermos at a fast pace. I hiked hard and nonstop over the last two climbs and made it out of the forest exactly as the sun was setting. I stumbled out into a rural neighborhood and met a wonderful woman that was taking her dog out for a walk. I chatted her up for a bit and she was shocked that I had made it from Nichols Hut in one day. She told me to hang on for a minute while she went to get her car. She drove me in the last six miles into town and we picked up Kazu along the way. She kindly took us to the supermarket so we could get some food and then called a local trail angel that warmly welcomed us to stay in their old church hall for the night. I was able to take a hot shower and eat some soup. Such a relief to be warm and fed.

This was one of the hardest trails I’ve ever hiked. It’s as hard as the Whites in New Hampshire but so much more isolated so so so slow in the mud. I was proud that I was able to manage my food to get through and so incredibly thankful for the help in town. It takes a lot of kindness to drive two stinky hikers around late at night and I will be forever thankful. This trail has asked for so much from me but man – these Kiwis are just incredible. I’m going to take two easy days of hiking through town into Wellington and then on the ferry to the South Island! It’s been quite a ride so far and I’m looking forward to a change in terrain and more Kiwi hospitality.