Day 114: Midnight Macgyvering

February 1, 2020

Kilometers: 2841.4-2868.5

Birchwood Station Hut to Merriview Hut

So the unexpected paradise hut had some issues last night. Some NOBO hikers that were staying there left the door to the hut open for a few hours and we didn’t realize it. This total rookie move allowed hundreds of sandflies into the hut. I tried to fall asleep but couldn’t as I could hear the constant buzz of them flying around me and occasionally landing on my face and hands, my only exposed skin. I had to figure out a solution or I wouldn’t get any sleep.

I decided to get inside my tent. Not set it up, just get inside it. I attached two of the clips of the netting part of tent to the top of my bunk, as I was sleeping on a bottom bunk. I slept on the floor of the tent, which was on top of the bunk mattress. I basically mcguyvered a bug net around me. It worked well and I avoided all the sandflies as I heard Charlie and Peter smacking at flies all night. I wish I had gotten a picture of it this morning. 

We were awake at the usual time and out on the trail at 7:30. It was cold this morning and I had to put my rain jacket on for some warmth not long before starting. We started down a gravel road as the sun rose.

I walked behind Peter and Charlie and when they missed the turn off that led over farm land I called out to them and turned them around. What would they do without their American GPS? The Woodlawn track took us across some uneven ground before we got to a steep climb. The 400 meter climb took us up onto a ridge that gave us nice views of the surrounding farm land. These were the best views we got all day.

Once at the top we joined a gravel 4WD track that took us five kms along the ridge. It was flat, which made for quick walking. We didn’t see any other people except for two hunters driving in trucks with dogs running around the cars as they drove slowly down the road. I didn’t totally understand the situation. 

The road led to a forest track that took us off the ridge. It was easy walking except for some poor trail signage at times. 

The forest track dropped us out onto some gravel farm roads. These took me to the next track 4kms away.

As I got to the Island Bush Track I sat down and had a snack as I was ahead of the others by a considerable amount. After fifteen minutes of craisins, honey roasted peanuts and a few cookies I was back walking. The track climbed up through forest on a backcountry road for a km, leveled out for a km, and then dropped me back down for a km. It was a very easy track.

From there I had about 3kms on the sealed road to Merriview Hut. I fought a bit of a headwind and arrived at 12:30. I ate my lunch and waited for the others.

We had originally planned to push at least 7kms further today. However, the weather forecast made us change it up. For the next four days, our last four days, Mother Nature is supposed to pour on us. The wind is also supposed to be bad. So, we decided to call it an early day at Merriview Hut as the trail climbs from here and is quite exposed. We don’t want to camp in the heavy rain and strong winds if we can avoid it. We have 136kms between us and Bluff, which means we just need to average 34km the next four days. This is very doable, especially with the easy beach and road sections the last few days. 

With all of us at the hut before 1 we had all afternoon off. The guys decided to hitch into the small town only 15kms down the highway, which the hut is located close to. I offered to stay with our stuff at the hut. This was a win-win for me because I didn’t necessarily want to hitch into town but I gave them money and a short list of things I wanted from town. 

The guys returned a few hours later with some essentials such as Red Bull for tomorrows hike, beers for tonight and some fruit for the morning. 

For dinner I made pasta and pesto. I only have one more backcountry dinner after tonight! 

At 7:30 three NOBO Czech hikers showed up at the hut. The hut only had five bunks so they were a bit dismayed to find one of them would either have to sleep on the floor or tent. They said “same situation as last night” and we let them know, nicely of course, that they would run into this problem a lot if they got to huts so late. We also made sure they kept the door shut at all times, no repeats of last night. 

As I mentioned it’s supposed to rain and rain hard tomorrow. We have heard this section is extremely muddy even without rain so it should be extra fun with it.