Te Araroa – Day 51

Bushcamp to Bushcamp

25.5 miles

Mile 1434.4

I woke in the middle of the night with my tent in my face. The winds had picked up with such tremendous force that one of my carbon fiber tent poles had snapped. I was too tired to bother trying to mend it at the moment, so simply adjusted my tent’s guylines to keep it pitched and tried my best to fall back asleep.

By sunrise sleep had never really come, but tired as I was I packed up and headed out into the morning.

The trail led me through a grass valley, passing Lake Emily and then the Maori Lakes.

Next, I joined the Clearwater Track, tramping over rolling grassy hills.

After passing Clearwater Lake, it was another hour or so until I reached the Rangitata River.

This river is another hazard zone, where the trail ends and picks up again on the other side of the gorge. The large braided river poses a significant danger, and simply can’t be forded most of the year. Hikers usually hitch around it, but it had been an especially dry month, so the flow was lower than usual. I figured I’d give it a shot.

I met two hikers near it’s bank who said they’d tried to ford it earlier, but had given up and had been waiting hours for a hitch. They gave me all sorts of advice on where I should cross…I listened to none of it. Why would I take the advice of someone who had failed??

Anyways, It took about 2 hours, but I made my way over the 7 or 8 braids of the river successfully. Two of the braids were especially tricky. The water was like milk, so each step was into the unknown. One such step brought me from knee deep to chest level water in a blink, and I was nearly swept away. My light and compact pack made me far nimbler than most hikers, so I think that played a large role in my success.

Looking back it was an thrilling adventure. The river was fast, but it was flat and without rapids, so had I lost my footing I would have gotten wet, but I don’t think it was all that dangerous.

From the gorge, I pushed on up Bush Stream for two hours more before finding a gem of a campsite where a lean-too and fire pit had been constructed. I managed to mend my broken tent poke with a bit of duct tape, so it was a good day!

Cheers!