backtracking: travers-sabine circuit

it's about time that i complete the chronicle of our hiking adventure, as my dad will probably feel ripped off if we don't get around to mentioning the weeklong trail that we all completed together. the travers-sabine circuit was notable for a few reasons: crossing the travers saddle on day 4 gave us our highest tramping altitude yet (1832m), the 7-day trip was our longest time out in the backcountry (an earlier 8 day trip included an overnight in the town of glenorchy with its showers and ice cream), and hiking in nelson lakes national park means that we've hiked in 8 of the 9 south island national parks (we'll have to get to mt cook before we leave). on top of this, the walk was strenuous but beautiful, so it was an all-around winner.

nelson lakes, being positioned in the middle of the northern bit of the island, isn't very easy to get to with public transport, so we exercised some creativity and patience in our travel days between there and christchurch. on the way out, we took the tranzalpine train due west to the west coast town of greymouth (which you may recognize from earlier blogs as the place where we finally found a rental car to take down to queenstown) and then caught a shuttle bus up the coast and inland to nelson, where we stayed at the bug, our old home. the next morning, we caught another shuttle taking us back south a little ways to st arnaud, the tiny town servicing visiting trampers during the busy christmas season. so without further ado, here's how it went:

tue, dec 29
st arnaud to lakehead hut, 6 miles

the stifling air and crowded mattress platforms at lakehead hut are evidence that the tourist season is, unfortunately, at its peak. we've been used to having huts to ourselves or shared with a small handful of other people, and so are overly whiny about being packed together in this way. we caught the afternoon shuttle and, after a week of celebrating christmas and my dad's arrival with large chocolate bars and restaurant meals every night, eased our way back into exercise with a 3-hour walk along the lakeshore to lakehead hut. i forgot to store our track brochure in a plastic bag before we set out in the rain, and am now faced with the delicate task of prying the soggy pages apart in the hope that a warm night in the hut will restore it to a usable condition by morning. we do have a (dry) topo map with us as well, so it's not tragic if my efforts are unsuccessful, but i would like my dad to think that i'm semi-capable out here in the wilderness.

wed, dec 30

lakehead hut to john tait hut, 8 miles

in order to allow my dad to ease into this weeklong backpacking trip, and also being influenced by the arrival of a nasty raincloud, we decided to ditch our original plan to push through to upper travers hut and stopped instead at john tait hut shortly after lunchtime. we didn't schedule anything for the last three days of his trip so that we'd be free to take our time and explore any side trails that might prove interesting, hopefully allowing the trip to be more of a pleasure than a discipline. i suppose there are times for both, but i personally prefer the former :)

hiking as a three-person "group" as opposed to as a couple is more different than i expected, having more opinions/emotions/food preferences/etc to consider. the problem we keep running into is that each of us defers to the others, so decisions are taking quite a while to be made. i suppose this is why hiking guidebooks suggest that groups elect a leader from the beginning whom they will agree to follow in case of conflicting opinions.

i realize that lately i've been mostly silent on the parts of our day spent on the trail, looking instead for unusual occurrences that end up consisting of new socks, tweaks to our cooking methods, and minor variations in hut design. these must be terribly boring to read about, but we're equally bored with hikes that give us deja vu. restlessness is certainly lurking in the corners for us. we were unsuccessful in changing our plane tickets (we bought roundtrip tickets returning in january, hoping to change this to july when the summer booking season officially opened), meaning excess cost (story of our lives) but also giving us the freedom to return home via fiji or hawaii or even to extend our travels by another year in some as-yet-undetermined location. we're already making plans for a short hop over to australia, seizing the opportunity while we're so close.

but strangely, as we consider alternatives to returning home immediately, i'm growing more open to the idea of returning to something close to our old lives, realizing that things will have changed there as well, offering new challenges and colleagues and opportunities for deepening existing relationships. as much as we think we move forward while everything else remains stagnant, that "everything else" moves forward without us, too.

thu, dec 31

john tait hut to upper travers hut, 3.5 miles

this afternoon i finished a book in the sun outside of the hut, which has a spectacular view from just above treeline at the head of the valley. it seems an exceptional place to welcome the new year, which will arrive from behind the mountains in the morning, allowing us to glimpse 2010 before nearly everyone else in the world. there will be no new year's resolutions this time around, save for my traditional short-lived goal to floss more frequently, as we'll be plenty satisfied to settle down and live quiet, contribute-to-the-community lives for a while.

the stream we followed up to the hut today held clear blue water that rushed down waterfalls and formed attractive trailside pools, leading us to pause constantly for long breaks in the sun. in this way we successfully dragged a 3-mile walk out over 4 hours.

now in the hut, i'm enjoying a retreat from meeting new people (my introverted self has had quite enough of that over the last 4 months) by hiding in a corner and listening in on other peoples' uncomfortable interactions. one man, discovering his partner in conversation to be a general practitioner, has somehow wheedled him into writing out a prescription for some special type of painkiller. i suppose these are the kinds of awkward situations that come with the job, but judging by the look he just flashed his wife, he's long ago lost his patience for them.

shortly before sunset i went out for a short walk around the hut, but veered off the trail in trying to get to a nice grassy spot under a tree and plopped my left foot into a hidden bog, soaking my formerly clean and dry sleepy socks. went to bed at 10. to my knowledge, no one in the hut stayed up until midnight.

fri, jan 1

upper travers hut to west sabine hut, 5 miles

on the first day of the new decade, we reached a new personal highest point: 1832m. we haven't quite figured out the official rules for the "highest point" designation, as there are plenty of places where you can drive a car well past this elevation, but we're celebrating our achievement anyway. the weather was gorgeous today, hot and clear, and the lure of the alpine regions was exceptionally strong. after the 90-minute climb up to the saddle from upper travers hut, the track begins a steep 4-hour descent as it loses 1200m of elevation, causing our knees to ache uncomfortably and making us appreciate that we're not hiking in the other direction.

west sabine hut is pretty full tonight, so we set up the tents outside. i was disappointed by this decision for two reasons:

1) it's supposed to rain tomorrow, and i don't relish the prospect of taking down a wet tent in the morning, and

2) some guy is stuck on a ledge that he climbed onto and couldn't get down from, and i'm interested to see how his predicament ends. (note: i think the guy got down all right, but no one in the hut the next morning seemed to know any details)

sat, jan 2

west sabine hut to sabine hut, 9 miles

the nine miles between west sabine and sabine huts were almost completely joyless, owing to hours of rain that quickly drenched every inch of our clothing and turned the track into a slippery mudfest. after yesterday's stunning mountaintop views in perfect weather, this feels like a low blow. yesterday we were considering taking a side trip up to blue lake, but we ditched that idea when we woke up in puddly tents and are now determined to finish the original route in as direct a manner as possible. talk of movie-watching and long afternoons on the couch with a pizza is dominating our conversation today.

we skipped lunch, as there were no dry spots to be found and soggy crackers are to be avoided at all cost, and feasted on tuna and oatmeal (what a combo) upon our arrival in the warm hut. the folks already here consist of a family wearing the ridiculous rainbow-striped long underwear so common in the outdoors stores here and an overly chatty american woman dressed in something equally preposterous, but to their credit a welcome fire was going when we arrived, so they must be decent human beings in spite of their clothing choices.

our only complaint about this hut is that, being located on lake rotoiti, it attracts hordes of sandflies which each seem compelled to welcome my dad personally. there's a dock in front of the hut where some trampers meet the water taxi back to town, and where others who dip their toes in the water receive a friendly (but reportedly still painful) bite from the eels.

sun, jan 3
sabine hut to speargrass hut, 9 miles

the hut cleared out early this morning, the other trampers being eager to reach their destinations before the predicted afternoon rain arrives, but we lingered until 10, enjoying cups of tea warmed on the fire and sweetened with the brown sugar usually reserved for the oatmeal. despite lengthening our camping days from 5 to 7, we have plenty of food, as we planned for side trips and built in an emergency supply. our shopping must also have coincided with some dessert cravings, because we've amassed an impressive supply of chocolate for this journey.

megan, last night's hut warden, commented to us that today's hike is one of her favorites, and it's not hard to see why. the forest it passes through is draped in moss, exuding ancientness in a way that inspires a reverent hush along the trail. being farther from the river it also drains better and isn't as boggy as yesterday's route. about a half hour before speargrass hut we came across a little tramping treat - the longest wilderness boardwalk we've ever seen, maybe even half a km long. it spared us some particularly rough and wet ground underfoot.

we shared the 12-bunk speargrass hut with a family of five who'd been in the hut with us last night as well. i'd written in the hut book that we were hoping to finish with a day hike up to nearby mt. angelus, thinking that no one would call my bluff with the forecasted spate of wet weather, and was forced to quickly backpedal when the mother offered the information that it now looked like the weather would clear and encouraged us to go for it. we were saved in the end when a gust of wind kicked up as we were heading out to the carpark the next morning, allowing us to "commiserate" with that dratted weather which wouldn't let us go up to the ridgeline after all :)

mon, jan 4
speargrass hut to st arnaud,9 miles

it wasn't until we settled into our hotel room to begin two full days of movie-watching that we realized that we'd completed our last day of hiking for the foreseeable future. there's not really any sense of accomplishment yet, though when we added up the miles and found that we've hiked 769 miles in 71 trail days there was some personal pride. i'll reflect more on the backpacking experience later, when we've successfully segued into a working lifestyle and have enough distance from the trails days to figure out what we've learned from them.

though st arnaud is such a small town that it's surprising to find a gas station here, we'll stay for two nights to recover under the glow of the southern cross (a southern hemisphere constellation that contributes to the kiwi identity) and the equally magnificent glow of the "open" sign on the adjacent fish and chips shop window.

-rachel

pictures:

1) water flowing over small rocks. taken on day 3 on one of our long rest breaks in the sun.

2) the short but steep side trail down to this waterfall was definitely worth it. had it been a hot day, we would gladly have jumped into the chilly water at the base of the falls.

3) a hardy little plant that grew on the mountain slopes above treeline.

4) my dad climbing up to the travers saddle.

5) view of lake rotoiti from the dock in front of sabine hut.

6) view from the front porch of speargrass hut

7) my shoes, after 769 miles of hiking. note where the leather has ripped apart near the toe, leaving the impression that these shoes are adorned with wings. i finally parted with them for good at the end of this trip.