Around 2.15pm on Friday, Dragon picked up the West Coast Shuttle to Arthur’s Pass, arriving around 5pm just as the shop and visitor center were closing. He would have to wait until tomorrow to collect the resupply package with 5 days of food waiting at the local DOC office. That was no problem, though, because Dragon was quite excited to reunite with Nora from Germany, another TA NOBO whom I joined in hiking the Kepler Track down in Te Anau! We had not seen each other since, and so had a month and a half of trail journeys to catch up on.
We had fun sharing our trail stories at the Sanctuary backpacker’s house in Arthur’s Pass, and then I went to the Wobbly Kea Cafe for a huge Hawaiian pizza and ice cream! Perfect way to start another 5 day leg of the trail.
Later, I camped out at the DOC Campground just across from the Visitor Center. It was pretty rainy, but I got up early, picked up my resupply package, and met Nora and her friend Mitch at the Arthur’s Pass Store for a delicious Chai Latte before we all set out towards Hanmer Springs.
After packing up all the 5 days of food I had shipped myself 2 months before, I took a short warmup hike to the Temple Basin. I had thought of trying to cross the Temple Col, a shorter higher route to the Goat Pass the TA leads to today, but the pass looked too steep, wet, and snowy to safely navigate by one lonesome hiker.
So I walked back to town, and again ran into this nice older fella (who offered me a place to stay the night before) at the post office. He offered me a ride the 6km down the highway to the official start of the TA up the Mingha River Valley, which I gladly accepted. He said he always offered to let hikers stay with him on his property when all the other stuff in town is booked up, which I thought was a mighty kind habit.
Once we drove down the highway, I thanked him as he dropped me off at the trailhead, and knocked out the 12km or so of trail for the day. It generally meandered up the Mingha River to Goat Pass at 970m.
We stayed at the Goat Hut just below the pass and before the Deception River traverse (Dragon, Nora, and Kaden, NOBOs, and Mitch, a SOBO doing this stretch down the river with us).
The next day was pretty tough, requiring a lot of scrambling over big boulders and crossing the Deception River some 20 times. It took about 5 hrs to do this 12km, although it was a really nice valley to walk through! I really enjoy all the river crossings too, it’s the perfect way to cool off and wash off some of the sweat on a hot day of hiking.
After a nice lunch at the Morrisson Footbridge, I continued on the official trail before deciding to just walk down the Oreti River since the trail was so awful. It required crossing the Oreti a couple times, but this was nothing considering the numerous other crossings of the day.
After this, and 8km up and across the Taramakau River, and I came to the lovely Kiwi Hut. It’s probably one of my favorite huts to stay at so far, as it just felt so much like home. Everything there was well maintained and thought out, and the location was just gorgeous.
The next day, the three adventurers (Dragon, Kaden, & Nora) set off early and arrived at the Loche Stream Hut, 8km up the Taramakau Valley, just after 9am. They had some snacks and then climbed up a very steep trail to Harper’s Pass at 960m, with beautiful views abound.
Then down the other side and across the headwaters of the Hurunui River to the Harper’s Pass Bivuac, a little 2 bunk hut where they stopped for lunch. Lastly, another 10km down the valley to the Hurunui No.3 Hut.
This hut was very modern, and the first I’ve seen with double wide sleeping pads! Luxury! It had a wood fired stove, which was very nice to warm up the abode. We played cards (Kaboom, Delicious BBQ, knock poker) by candlelight, and Kaden made a drink of warm wine with cloves and cinnamon and sugar that tasted precisely like Christmas. It was Christmas eve after all!
The next day, we slept in a bit and took a pretty short day, 9km to the next Hurunui Hut. Along the way, we stopped at a hot springs pool streaming down the side of the mountain and soaked for a good hour or more.
The Hurunui Hut was very spacious and there were only the three of us and another guy staying there, although it could sleep 16. Dragon chopped a lot of wood with the solid steel axe, to help the next people who needed a roaring inferno after a long cold slog.
The next day looked pretty bleak in the morning, with clouds nestling the peaks of the surrounding mountain ranges. I set off after Nora, and we had about 18km to the Kiwi Hope Lodge. The weather really cleared up by noon, and the trail was a fantastic mix of grassy meadow walking and old growth Beech forest.
The Kiwi Hope Lodge (Hut) was the nicest I’ve seen the entire trail — wood fired stove, sweeping views of meadows in all directions, and two bunk rooms, with separate bunks in the eating room for couches or sleeping for late comers. I took the bunk next to the bunk room door as the two rooms had five hikers each, and so I had the whole common area to my self for sleeping time.
The sixth day, the three of us hiked out early in the morning, 16km down the river valley, and together we got a couple of hitches into Hanmer Springs! Score! We made it in time for lunch, and all picked up some massive burgers from the local takeaway joint.
