It had been a calm night, and I’d woke to blue skies, but within minutes of hitting the trail the wind began howling, followed by dark fast moving clouds.
As I fought to make forward progress against a tremendous head wind, I looked up to find a brilliant rainbow sprawling in front of me.
Double rainbow?
As I reached a shelter it began to rain, but I decided to push on towards Martha’s Saddle anyways.
I followed the 4wd track up into the mountains, growing colder as I ascended.
By the time I’d reached the top it was snowing. I stopped briefly to add more layers before beginning my frigid descent.
Two hours later I reached Top Timaru Hut, where I stopped for a bit to warm up. There were four other hikers inside, so it was nice and toasty from their body heat.
Recovered, I pushed on down the mountain, following a steep forest track down to a creek, which became the trail for the next four miles.
Leaving the creek I began a savagely steep ascent up towards Breast Hill.
Once I reached the top the views were incredible, but the cold wind put the hustle in me.
Just before 8:00 PM I rolled up to Pakituhi Hut, stoked to get out of the cold. Inside I found one other hiker, a neat dude from London. We had an awesome chat before I finally tapped out and hit the rack.
