Day 102: Near Disaster
January 20, 2020
Kilometers: 2478.4-2510.5
Freehold Creek to Longslip Hut
If you were to tell me that there would be a near disaster today I would have immediately said Ahuriri River. This river is notorious for causing problems for TA hikers. It is wide, fast and deep in places, the trifecta for being a dangerous river. I’ve read blogs about people getting swept down river for hundreds of meters attempting to cross this thing. Yet, the near disaster came earlier in the day when I was least expecting it.
I woke to the sound of the creek still loudly trickling next to me. I was happy to see my tent was totally dry and quickly packed my things. I was headed up the valley by 7:30.
From the campsite to the saddle was just under 5kms and about a 700 meter gain in elevation. It was cool but I was still sweating heavily as I climbed at first through a forested area and eventually through open tussock country. As I climbed I got my last views of Lake Ohau.
I reached the top, but it was a long, wide, flat saddle. There’s something not as satisfying when walking across these types of saddles then sitting on a saddle with steep terrain on both sides of you.
I started my descent into the Ahuriri valley. The trail started up on above the stream running through the valley but quickly lead me down to it. More creek crossings. I had my headphones plugged in and was listening to music going through the motions and a little zoned out.
As I got to what appeared to be the last creek crossing I changed the song on my phone, dismissed the “your iPhone hasn’t been backed up in two weeks” message and started across, stepping on the rocks to keep my feet as dry as possible.
As I lunged forwards towards the last rock before the other creek bank my foot slid from under me. I had fallen and was sitting in the water up to my mid chest. Only milliseconds went by before I sprung up realizing what had happened. I threw my pack and my poles on the bank. My damn iPhone had been submerged. It was in a waterproof case but it is useless if the headphone thing is open. I could see water on the inside of my case. I opened it up quickly and attempted to dry the phone.
At this point you may be thinking “wait the near disaster is his phone almost broke? What a millennial.” But my phone is also my camera, my map, how I post blogs AND how I receive pictures of my dog from my mom. So yea, it would absolutely have been a disaster if it had broken. It did give me the water in the lightning port warning but as I write this at the end of the day it appears to be working fine as of now.
When I was sitting on the bank all wet I first thought to myself what kind of stupid are you? Then I realized I had made it 2,500 kilometers without falling on a river/creek crossing. Further than I would have bet I’d make it before my first tumble. Would have been nice to make it the whole way though.
As I dried out my stuff, including that tent that was dry just hours before, I ate first lunch. I ate craisins, cookies and some chocolate. I needed some sugar to wake me up.
To my delight the trail veered away from the river for the next 8kms. The trail was on the opposite side of the river valley. It was getting pretty hot as I walked down the valley towards Ahuriri River.
Before I could see the river I could hear it. It was loud. I figured it couldn’t be that high as it hasn’t rained in quite some time. Here is one description of this river crossing from a guys blog I followed closely last year:
“It is a trap for the unwary or inexperienced. I could hear the sound of the white water rapids long before I descended to the riverbank. The days rain had certainly increased the flow. I wandered up and down the river looking for the safest place to cross. I found a likely place and started into the river without my pack. I was testing the waters, so to speak. My first foray was too deep and the water was flowing so fast it almost swept me downstream. I moved downstream about 50 meters. The river was wider but not so deep, it reached my belly button and I was just able to walk without being swept away. This was the limit of my ability, I thought. Maybe I should just walk downstream for half a day to the bridge and cross there. It would save me one whole day if I crossed, I thought. My mind was running every possible scenario. If I was washed away, I would end up in some fast flowing rapids.”
I descended down to the river where I found a woman sitting on the bank. Her name was Hailey and she had just arrived at the river not long before me. She too had heard scary stories about this river and was hoping someone would come along and cross it with her. I was that someone.
I took my pack off and began across the river alone to see how strong and deep it was. It was both of those things, as well as had very slippery rocks on the bottom but I thought I could make it across. Hailey doubted she could so we walked downstream in a search of a better spot. We found one and linked together to begin across. I definitely would have felt better crossing solo but realized that Hailey really wanted to cross linked together. We made it across with not too much difficulty. She thanked me for my help and we parted ways.
Not long after that I realized I was out of water and figured I’d stop for second lunch. I ate hummus on crackers and had some more chocolate and craisins.
From there I was only about 11kms from the hut I had planned to meet Charlie and Peter at for the night. The trail began somewhat mucky and at points I sunk up to nearly my knees in mud. Luckily the trail soon turned onto a 4WD track.
The 4WD track was easy walking but it was somewhat uphill and the sun and heat were out of control. The last few days it has been noticeably hotter and sunnier than any other part of the trip. On top of that this part of the country has approximately zero trees. There is no shade anywhere. This makes easy tracks much harder as the sun steals your energy. Also, the track had some nice views.
I arrived at the hut and immediately knew the reunion would have to wait as there were no hiking poles or shoes outside the hut. I went inside to find a note saying they had gone on to the next hut. I had missed them by less than an hour but didn’t have the energy to push another 14kms to the next hut. Due to the hut placement on this track I most likely won’t meet up with them now until Wanaka, about 75kms away. This is okay though as I may now attempt a huge day tomorrow that I definitely would have gotten some pushback from them if I had suggested it.
The hut was nice and I had it to myself. After relaxing out of the sun for a bit I got to work cleaning drinking water and then took a bath in the creek. I had a repeat of last nights dinner and a snickers bar for desert.
It appears I’ll be alone in the hut tonight. I went to bed early so I can get an early start tomorrow.