Day 113 - new trail friends

Geraldine —-> Crooked Spur hut

73km shuttle + 10km walk

With the shuttle back to trail not until 10.30am, we had a slow morning food shopping for the next section and drying the night’s moisture from the tent.

Josh’s pain threshold had really been tested over the last few days so he was taking some time off trail again. I’d meet him in Tekapo in a few days time.

After an emotional coffee date goodbye, I met Wayne at his shuttle bus in the centre of Geraldine and we set off for the southern side of the Rangitata river and the start of the Two Thumbs track.

There were five other hikers on the bus; two groups of two from Auckland and one other TA walker, John. John had set off from Picton on the 9th March, skipping the section in between the rivers to now be at the same point as me. I was only the second TA-hiker he’d met!

We were dropped at the trailhead just after midday and set off surrounded by glorious blue sky. I walked with John, chatting and sharing trail stories as we headed up the valley along the riverbed.

There was only 10km to cover today to reach Crooked Spur hut, the majority of the trail along the riverbed. The markers seemed outdated, they took us from one side of the river, to the other side and back, over and over again. Realising the river had forged a new path since the markers were erected, we soon began to ignore them and did our best to stay on the same side to save our feet from freezing - I’d had enough of that over the past week.

The track turned upwards after a couple of hours and we climbed quickly up a steep track over-looking the river, the views over the hills and mountains in the distance were just incredible.

As quickly as we’d climbed, we descended, back down to the river from which we’d just come.

My stomach was hammering at me by now, we hadn’t stopped for lunch yet and it was almost 3pm. I told myself I’d stop once I was back down to the river but by the time I was there, the sun had disappeared off the valley floor and the temperature of the shade was highly unappealing.

The hut was less than an hour away so I wolfed down some fruit leathers for a burst of energy and pegged it as fast as I could up the final stretch. Steph had warned me that the climb up to Crooked Spur hut would kick my ass and boy she was not wrong. 30 minutes of teeny tiny steps up the track later and I was at the top looking back down over the river again.

The hut was nestled a little further along on a flat section of tussock with a heavenly view of the mountains and valley beyond.

The hut itself was old but full of character and John and I settled in to eat a well over due lunch whilst we waited for the other hikers to arrive.

As the sun was setting, the sky was a wonder, peaches and pinks all around us. The stars started to come out and as the air temperature dropped close to zero, I snuggled deep into my sleeping bag, my ear plugs shoved firmly into my ears to drown out the snoring and the mice running around in the walls.