Nelson Lakes Park

My zero day at the Alpine Lodge was wonderful. I read, took naps, got everything cleaned up and organized and got caught up on messages. The farthest that I walked was from my hotel room to the restaurant and back. My legs cheered the rest and the swelling from my fall went down and settled into a dull ache. The food was so good and I shared a great meal with some hikers from Finland and Germany. These guys were crazy – their original plan was to paddle board across the Cook Straight but the weather didn’t cooperate so they had to take the ferry like regular people. Just proof that no matter how crazy you think you are there is always another level. It was pouring on the morning I left back for the trail and it was really hard to pry myself out of that beautiful bed and get out into the cold rain. I set out all the same with the Bjork Essentials tracks helping me along.

The first day into the Nelson Lakes park was pretty flat and fast as it wound along the lakefront. I could see a crew team out there getting yelled at by their coxswains and coaches in the downpour and it made me miss rowing. Somehow the rain and cold doesn’t seem so bad when your crew mates are there with you. But, I was alone now that I lost Kazu on my zero. He wanted to push hard through the next few sections so he can walk all of the 100+ miles of road walk detours around two upcoming impassable rivers. That’s a hard no for me. He is a good man for it but I have my limits. Besides, I wanted to hike alone for a while. I’ve been moving in groups since I started and it gets complicated sometimes. It’s nice to be able to start, stop and take breaks when you want to without worrying about where your hiking buddies are. Of course, it comes with a trade off. Long long long days of time in your own head and talking to the birds. It gets weird out there but the best kind of weird. A chance to deeply cycle through all of those loops that keep coming up. All of those wrongs – the minor slights and the serious stuff comes up in equal measure. What I’ve been finding lately is that I end up in same place. A mixture of acceptance and forgiveness – for myself and others. It feels good.

I was a soggy mess once I got into the Upper Travers Hut after twenty miles. But, my spirits were up and the hut was busy that night with a big group of hikers I hadn’t met yet. I got a good nights rest for the next big day of climbs up and over Waiau Pass. I woke up at 4:00 AM and was poles down by 5:00 AM for a hike that looked okay on paper – twenty miles across the pass. I knew it was going to be a long one but I misjudged the difficulty of this section of trail. It was nearly 100% of rock and boulder scrambling with steep climbs and incredibly slippery descents. The views of Blue Lake and Lake Constance were amazing though. Blue Lake is the clearest water in the world and we were asked not to swim, drink from or even touch the lake to keep from spreading any contaminating algae. I got seriously turned around after the first big climb and ended up climbing over a huge field of boulder scree for an extra hour or so. Ugggg. I finally found the trail again and ended down into the valley to approach the big climb of the day. As I rounded around Lake Constance I saw what I was up against. The trail led me into a deep wide valley towards a dead end of huge mountains on three sides. There was only one way out of this and that was straight up!

The Waiau Pass is less than two miles but it took me nearly three hours to get up the nearly vertical ascent and then down the boulder scramble on the back side. I love the climbing but the descents scare me. My pack weight is a wild card and you just can’t lose your balance on some of these sections. The stakes are too high. It’s slow, careful moves with breaks to catch your breath. I finally got back down to the river and then it was another three hours to the Waiau Hut. I arrived at 8:30 PM after more than fifteen hours of hiking. I was exhausted but proud and two friendly hikers were already snuggled in their bags. We had a nice chat as I made dinner and crashed.

My final day in Nelson was just hard – I miscalculated just about everything. I got started at 6:00 AM for the thirty five miles into the Boyle Outdoor Education Center. The trail App said that there were cokes and a shower waiting for me. I could smell the barn. I hiked hard through a miles-wide valley and didn’t see another soul until I stopped for lunch and met a French NOBO hiker. I pushed and pushed and finally got into Boyle at 8:30 PM and jogged up to the Education Center to find it very much closed. I checked the trail App and saw that there was a town nearby called Hanmer Springs but I couldn’t tell how far. I went down to the road and got chewed up by mosquitos while a begged for a hitch. After about thirty minutes, a hunter stopped for me and gave me the scariest ride of my life – he drove so aggressive and fast along the winding roads. Hanmer was thirty five miles away and it was terrifying! He finally dropped me off at the turn off to Hanmer around 9:30 PM. I checked GoogleMaps and the town was still another six miles – damn it! It hoofed it into town on the dark road and made a hotel reservation at the closest hotel. I got in around 11:00 PM and had to wake the poor owners up to let me in. It was a long day and I checked my Garmin as I laid in bed and I had logged over 92,000 steps.

I had a restless nights sleep and woke up determine to slow down. I have nearly seven weeks to finish up the last five hundred miles so there is no reason for these insanely big days. Sure, it feels good when I get done for the day but my body is taking a beating. I had a big breakfast and headed to the hot springs and had a restful afternoon soaking in the mineral pools. I hired a shuttle driver to take me back to Boyle this afternoon and then I am going to do an easy late-afternoon hike into the first hut. It’s not easy to get a ride back to the trailhead so I needed to take the one I could get and pick up my food box and get back on the trail. I’ve planned some easy days ahead into Arthur’s Pass and then reserved a place to stay for Christmas. Here’s to some slow happy days ahead.