Day 87 - red hills josh

Hunters hut —-> Red Hills hut 18km

It took all our energy this morning to get out of our sleeping bags. Aching legs and a light drizzle outside made walking the exact opposite of what we wanted to do. There were two NOBO section walkers also in the hut; they were up and busying about early doors so their commotion forced us to get up.

We set off with our hoods pulled up and started climbing through the tussock away from the hut.

We siddled along the rocky hill faces, dodging the mud and trying not to slip on the mossy boulders.

The hills in front of us turned almost Mars-like, the path turning to skree as we climbed up and an impossibly steep slope.

Mars then turned to slop.

Josh enacted his best footwork to avoid it…

I did not.

The distinctive orange facade of a hut came into view shortly after, and we paced it down the valley where we met Kat having an early lunch at Porters Creek hut.

After a foot wash and almost an hour’s break, we all set off together towards Red Hills hut - the final hut on the Richmonds trail.

Travel in the river bed was tricksy, low water but minimal opportunity for rock hopping so inevitably we ended up with wet feet.

The rain came and went all afternoon, but the trail kept us sweaty clambering up and down from the river multiple times so it was often welcomed when it came.

The trail then sidled above the river through the hillside and tussock, Josh was pacing so hard I had to ask him to slow down as we couldn’t keep up. “Red hills Josh” he was dubbed, should that kind of speed ever be required again.

The final view km was along the valley floor - tussocks, bog and mud providing the pathway.

Josh was leading the way with maybe a km left to walk when Kat and I heard a scream and a plop ahead of us.

Josh had taken a swim in a mud bath. It was all Kat and I could do to not also fall into the mud bath in fits of laughter. He was covered head to toe. Josh was (thankfully) also laughing and we all near ran the final stretch to the hut where Josh attempted to get clean.

Despite being a pretty new hut, Red Hills hut was by far the coldest hut we’d stayed in. It was the coldest I’d been period.

It was a wonderfully clear sky which maybe added to the cold temperature, the forecast had it at 1 or 2 degrees… so maybe it wasn’t the hut’s fault.