Day 103 - snow
Hurunui hut —-> Locke Stream hut 25km
It was no warmer this morning as we left the hut around 7.30am. A light drizzle in the air, we had as many layers on as we dared get wet.
We were walking out in the valley, admiring the white peaks around us, feeling grateful we weren’t going up there!
The rain got a little heavier as we arrived at a natural hot pool neatly set into the forest shelf. On any other day I would have loved to get in, and the thought of getting into the hot pool was glorious… but getting out again?! That thought was bad enough to outweigh the glory.
It felt like we were travelling over a lot of puds, up and down, in and out of the forest to avoid to the river, so Josh and I decided to forgo the trail, and travel down the river instead, shortcutting the puds in the forest.
The river was freezing. Not surprising at all considering the snow all around us. It was definitely the wrong decision, Annie and Grant took exactly the same time going through the forest but they didn’t now have ice blocks for feet.
As we arrived at Hurunui no. 3 hut, we were all utterly frozen. We stripped off, put dry clothes on to warm up and made a cup of tea. Annie was wonderfully carrying firelighters and she chucked almost the whole packet into the stove to get a roaring fire going almost instantly - oh boy did my feet appreciate that!
It was only 10.30am but Josh and I decided to have lunch while our fingers could function a little. There wasn’t any proper huts on the trip to Locke Stream hut where we’d be able to shelter so we made the most of the time indoors.
When we left Hurunui hut over an hour later, the rain had stopped and the air felt calmer. We were now travelling towards Harpers Pass - the plan was to cross over and walk down the other side to Locke Streame hut.
Our first challenge was to cross a three wire bridge. This looked easy at first but when your hands are struggling to grip anything and all three wires are swinging, it suddenly adds a layer of terror to it. Well terror for Josh, amusement for me.
(Side note - I’ve seen photos of this bridge two days later, and the river below is raging… we were so lucky to get over when we did!)
As we continued up the track, through the valley and across an endless number of streams, we had things falling on our head again, but this time it felt much softer, and we weren’t getting as wet. Snow.
What started out as a light sprinkle,
Soon started to settle on the freezing ground. It was bitterly cold, but we stayed dry, which made it so much more enjoyable than the morning.
Josh and I escaped the elements for a moment in Harpers Bivvy before Annie and Grant joined and we all crammed into the teeny two bed bunk shelter.
The climb up to the top of Harpers Pass was relatively easy - a short steep section gave us pause in the middle of the snowfall but was otherwise unremarkable. No great views at the top other than the snow- topped mountains we’d been gawping at all day.
When we passed down the other side it’s like we’d gone through a time loop. It wasn’t snowing on this side of Harpers Pass, and didn’t look like it had done either.
We followed the river down the mountain side, siddling over slips and dancing over boulders to avoid getting wet feet.
After a couple of hours we finally arrived at Locke Stream hut, pretty exhausted and ready for a serious lie down. The hut looked rather snazzy from the outside…
…but the inside was a serious let down. Originally built in 1940, it felt very dated with a giant open fire place and dark bunk rooms with triple bunks that felt like you were in a coffin.
We did our best to chop any dry firewood we could but the majority was sodden. Annie got the best fire going using up the rest of the firelighters, but unless we were sat in front of it, it was utterly freezing.
We took ourselves to bed as soon as it was dark, our sleeping bags by far the best place to keep warm. We just hoped that the poison in the rat traps underneath the bunks would remain uneaten until we’d gone…
