TA Day 38

TA Day 38: Saturday 25 January 2025

East of Morrison Footbridge - Locke Stream Hut

This morning we were soooo tired. Maybe the most tired we've ever been when waking up on this hike!?

It felt like we had been run over, and when we talked to Jan it sounded like he felt really bad too. None of us really wanted to get up but since we had picked a very stupid tent spot (the other ones being occupied) and we were on the edge of private land, we wanted to get moving quickly - or at least take down our tents quickly.

We tried to send messages to Peter Bergström, who is also hiking The Araroa but SOBO, because we were finally about to meet! We had messaged each other the day before but now he was moving forward a lot, and along the road, so it looked like we might miss each other. At the same time the inReach was not co-operating and didn't want to send our messages! And when it finally did, we had already written new ones that were not sending... For some time, we were sure that we wouldn't see Peter and his hiking partner, Andy, but then they suddenly showed up! Yes!

So fun to see them again and talk to them, but what is most interesting is probably to see how different our trail experiences have been so far.

After eating breakfast and they had had some coffee, it was time to get going. It was quite late already, around 10(!).

When we were about to leave they recommended us to take the road, but when we insisted on taking the trail even if the road walk was likely faster (but longer) he said "Well, don't listen to the experienced then".

It ended up not being so bad at all. Definitely slower, but it was okay. At first we followed a nice 4WD-track, then we walked for some time in the forest until it got too "rosllercoaster-like", then we bailed and walked the riverbed instead of the trail, which was not too bad either. Very soon a 4WD-track appeared, and we followed it for quite some time. Then we followed the markers again. On our right there was a big orange marker, but when we followed it we ended up on a trail that didn't show on any maps. That was okay though, because this trail was SO nice and easy! One of the best ones so far, and it looked quite maintained too with new markers and trees removed from the trail. Maybe it was an old trail that had been renewed? Because parts of it looked older, and when we looked behind us we sometimes saw markers that looked older, or none at all. It was definitely odd, but we didn't mind!

We crossed the river once, and then we ended up in the high tussock. Here we walked for a long time on a 4WD-track in the grass, and now we met some SOBOs too. Before, when we had been on the cozy track in the forest, we hadn't met anyone. It really felt like our secret little trail.

When we were in the grass, it wasn't a problem to follow the paths in the grass, but the real markers where here and there, with sometimes too much space in between them. The map didn't match completely either. Neither did the TA gpx-track, or any of the trails on NZ topo or Openstreetmap. That was probably the most annoying thing today, but the path itself was actually quite good and quite fast, so that was nice!

When we reached Locke Stream Hut we decided to stop. We never went to Kiwi Hut because it was off trail, and we hadn't taken any proper breaks today at all so we were all quite tired. Getting to the hut was so nice. We had some dinner and talked a bit to the other hikers there. Except for us and Jan, all the others (4), were SOBOs. Still not too much but that was good because it made it feel slightly easier to sleep inside.

Today's:

Distance: 23.23 km

Ascent: 318 m

Descent: 143 m

Tent nights: 27/38

Weather: Cloudy day, with some drizzles and more rain in the evening