TA Day 14

TA Day 14: Wednesday 1 January 2025

Northeast of Boundary Hut - Caples River / Greenstone River

We woke up in a milky white fog. If we hadn't known that we camped in a valley with high mountains around, we would have no idea. The world seemed silent as we packed all of our stuff and kept going. Now, Kim saw lizards again and we were now sure that there really are lizards here, and that it was indeed a lizard she saw yesterday!

We walked all the way to Taipo hut, around 9 km, before having breakfast. When we stopped, the sun was coming through the mist and through a small hole in the clouds we could see a blue sky.

This hut was something else.

In the hut we meet a Finnish and a German guy. The German guy apparently was another NOBO, whose name we had seen previously in hut books. He had taken it a bit slow now in the beginning.

We talked some to the Finnish guy, and then suddenly, he wanted to share something with us. But he didn't know where he'd put it, and soon he was crawling on hands and knees looking everywhere for it, while saying "My precious". It was hard not to think of Gollum.

After some time he gave up his search, and the German was about to leave. Before the German left, the Finn had something else to show us - Gandalf! A beautiful pipe, filled with weed...

He gave some to the German, and also offered some for us. We kindly refused the offer.

Just when we were about to leave he found his precious - Smirnoff in a plastic bottle. Lukas took a big gulp and we were finally off.

Now it was very sunny, and very hot. We caught up to the German and rubber-banded with him for some time.

During a few km we took a "side path" instead of the trail, because the trail was going off to the left and we didn't even notice when it did. But we didn't care, and actually this side path was nice and fairly easy.

The hike to Greenstone hut was nice, but way too sunny. In one place we found some trees with some shade by a creek, and here we sat down for a break to eat some snacks.

We continued the last part to Greenstone hut and had another break here and spoke with a lot of other hikers. One SOBO woman and some hikers that were doing shorter hikes in the area. One even offered us a ride tomorrow by lunch, and we thanked him and said that we would gladly come unless we would find something earlier.

As we continued the hike after Greenstone, everything got easier, faster and nicer. The elevation was nice and good, the path was soft and clear and we now walked in a cozy forest. We were walking quite fast because we wanted to find somewhere to camp in time so we wouldn't have to swim and clean ourselves when it was chilly and no sun.

Unfortunately we didn't really make it before the sun disappeared behind the tree tops. We went for the last option which was cozy but not ideal, since you're not allowed to sleep in pastures..

Just before looking for the spot, Kim went for a pee break and Lukas continued along the trail to look for a spot. Due to a misunderstanding, Kim only continued a little bit more, then stopped because she didn't know where Lukas went to look for a tent spot, and didn't want to go too far so she wouldn't find him. She tried to call out and look for him, but nothing. So she sat down on a rock and waited, hoping he would return. Which he eventually sid, as something might have happened, it was sträng that she never showed up!

And there she was, crying on a rock, thinking she had lost him and wouldn't find him 💔

We then went together to find a spot, and after cleaning ourselves for the hitch tomorrow we went to bed.

Today's:

Distance: 28.59 km

Ascent: 597 m

Descent: 909 m

Tent nights: 7/14

Weather: Misty morning, then sunny all day