“MUDDY AS FROM HERE ON NOBOS. SUMMON YOUR INNER MUD NINJA.”
-Wise words from the trail log at Martin’s Hut.
Woke up to a gorgeous sunny day at Martin’s Hut. The sign outside said 6hrs to the quarry road that leads to Bald Hill, our high point for the day, so my new TA hiker friend Loic and I set out around 8.
The first few hours are through extremely muddy, steep terrain, with some pits going as much as knee deep should you dare to fall into them.
From the first hills vantage point, we have an excellent view of Bluff, the starting point of this journey where I hitched to and walked from 6 days since.
Then, another round of very muddy and mossy forest, the trees all twisted and corrupted into odd shapes by the rotting power of the moss. I cant overestimate how much moss there was here. It was ubiquitous. Every tree limb, every rock, every piece if Earth was coated with a thick spongy mat of the stuff.
Eventually the trail leads over another hill, and finally down to the quarry road. It only took us 4 hours, nice! Now, an easygoing climb up the road to Bald Hill, about a 300m ascent over an hour or so. The sky above had turned from blue to a dangerous shade of overcast, and the wind had picked up, which meant we were in for a storm at some point. If we’re lucky, it’ll wait until after we’ve gone over this wide open hill here.
The view from the top was magnificent, from the snow capped mountains to our north, the Fiordland mountains to the west, and Bluff and the ocean to our south. Not wanting to overstay our welcome, we quickly snapped some photos and descended back into the forest for one last muddy excursion to Merrivale road. This was certainly the easiest hiking of the day, and we hit the road’s beginning in the forest around 4pm.
Seeing the beginnings of the rain storm, we decide to camp right there in the clearing. The wind was impressive for the rest of the evening and well into the night, waking me up a few times with the fear that one of the poles holding this tent together would snap from the force of the wind. And we had the shelter of trees here–I wouldn’t want to know how strong the wind was up on Bald Hill now!
Goodnight!