I'm currently in a the lobby of a very, very nice hotel that has a backpackers hostel attached. They are nice enough to let the stinky backpackers come into the hotel part of the premises and use their computers and eat in the restaurant. I'm fresh off of one adventure and getting ready to head off to the next but I wanted to leave a quick update on things before I head off into the woods again tomorrow morning.
First, here are quite a few pictures from the Queen Charlotte Track that I couldn't upload in Havelock:
And now on with the blog...
Yesterday, I completed the longest backpacking trip that I've ever done. At 8 days, 7 nights, it wasn't anything real crazy, but it was the longest that I've been totally out there and only my third time on a solo trip (with the other two solo trips being in the past month). The trip ended up being about 155 k (100 miles) and went from Havelock to St Arnaud following the Pelorus River and then the Richmond Alpine Range. It was a gorgeous stretch of country that covered so much geographically. Havelock sits on the ocean in a sound, then you hike up a river through farm until you end up in a gorgeous, crystal clear mountain gorge on the Pelorus River before climbing up to alpine that gives way to basically a desert mountain range. If I tried to describe all of the gorgeous views, this blog post would never end, so I've scattered pictures throughout for you to look at and enjoy.
Overall the hike was great but the two hardships were on my knees and my brain. There were some real steep ups and downs in the Richmond Alpine Range. Couple those ups and downs with an ~50 lb pack at the start of the trip and you end up with knees that feel a bit wobbly. I didn't have any problems that a handful of ibuprofen couldn't fix, but in order to try to save my knees so I can use them for years and years down the road, I did head up to Nelson today to get some trekking poles. Nelson is about an hour and a half drive from here but I got real lucky with hitching. At breakfast this morning, I met newlyweds Vicki and Clare who were enjoying the last meal of their honeymoon before heading back up to Nelson and their new life together. They were nice enough to bring me up their with them, so I didn't even have to try and hitch on the way up.
I spent some time in Nelson, dropped $225 on a pair of trekking poles (eventual knee surgery would have costed way more), got some groceries and two-hitched back down to St Arnaud. The second of those hitches was with a Department of Conservation worker named Greg (that's two Gregs that work at DOC that have helped me out in big ways now) who was a great guy to talk to and gave me some real good info about the track ahead. Considering St Arnaud is in the middle of nowhere, I got real lucky with rides today.
So, with knee problems now addressed, I can talk about the other bother on the track: my brain. Really, it's not a bother at all, but solo hiking can be tough at times. I read a quote when I was in Wellington form a crazy ultramarathoner who said (and I believe he was quoting someone else), 'Shared pain is lessened, shared happiness is heightened." So, solo hiking can be the opposite of that. It's really noticeable on the "pain" part. When you're hacking through the bush with just a faint inkling of a trail guiding you, another peak looming in the distance, the late afternoon sun beating down on you, feet that beg for mercy every time you step on a rock and knees that remind you with every downhill step that you really probably should find a way to take it easier, it can be hard. Just hard, plain and simple. But rarely did I question if I was doing the right thing, I just often wished for someone to share the journey with. Really, after spending 16 years of my life pushing myself to my physical threshold day in and day out, I can handle the pain without much issue (sometimes I'm even masochistic enough to enjoy the physical beating the trail doles out) but I wish I could share the highs. I would have loved to have had someone to share the views with from the top of the mountains, to take in the sunset with from Starveall Hut. After leading bike trips across the country and across Europe, I know so well how shared happiness really is heightened and it's better to go at these things with a buddy.
All that said, sometimes hiking alone is absolutely perfect. There is a lot of room for your thoughts in alpine environments and every once in a while, your footsteps on the trail lead you to rare moments of mental/emotional/spiritual bliss. At least once a day, I found myself perfectly content in a way that I haven't felt maybe ever. I just felt calm, at peace with where I was, who I was, where I've been and where I was going. After the rough year I had last year, it is incredible to be able to feel such a way and made every step, every peak and valley worth the journey. Having already felt that after just a few weeks on the trail, I'm excited to see where I'll find myself in another 6.
Tomorrow I head out to do the Nelson Lakes to St James Walkway track. Nelson Lakes is one of the few areas in New Zealand I had heard of before I came down here, so I am really looking forward to this next section. It should take 5 days, 4 nights, but I may end up going slower if I think I need to take my time and see more or if I get bad weather at the big pass on the track. I ran into the group of Americans I met in Wanganui and on the Queen Charlotte Track and I should at least be going hut to hut with them for this section.
That's all for now, but I'll try and put another post up in 5 or 6 days!
Until then,
G
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