Four Seasons in One Day by Crowded House

Te Araroa Trail Days 58 - 65 (938km - 1064km)

Day 58: January 30 (8km)

Behold the Richmond Ranges, the most hyped section of the trail; 8 day food carry, nonstop climbs, technical terrain, volatile weather, and frequent hiker heli rescues. The Richmonds were the final challenge separating us from the sea.

We had a pit stop in St. Arnaud before entering the mountains, refueling on beer and pizza and plums.

We paid 40 dollars each to camp next to the lodge’s compost pile, decided one night was enough for that and hopped back on the trail.

Back on trail to worries of water, nothing new. But instead of too much water (violent river crossings, stormy mountain passes) today’s problem: too little!

This was our first time all island in desert conditions: red sandy hills, intense heat. We arrived to an (almost) empty water tank at the hut.

We pooled our resources with the other heat exhausted hikers and scooped up the remaining 4 inches of water from the tank with a rope and pot. Crisis averted.

Usually hikers leave comments in the hut log books about trail conditions, notes to their slower friends or fun comments. In this hut, the final hut before town for SOBOs walking in the opposite direction, every comment said, “GET ME OUT OF THE RICHMONDS” or “I NEED pizza and beer!!!”

We warned sobos the next day about the lack of water, only for them to respond, “I don’t care, I’m getting out today!!” as they skipped down the path.

What else did the Richmonds have in store for us?

Days 59 - 61: January 31 - February 2 (46km)

The terrain changed over the first few days, from rolling desert to beech forest, but what stayed consistent was the constant up and down. Our legs burned like never before.

On day four the temperature cooled. It started to rain during our morning snack break at a hut. The rain got worse and worse and the break got longer and longer until we eventually crawled into our sleeping bags and called it a day at 11am.

One by one, three other hikers came in from rain, and also wormed into their sleeping bags after seeing how comfy we looked. All five of us spent the entire day like that.

Sharing a tiny contained space with strangers all day is.. unique. It kinda feels like you’re stuck on a ship, with nothing to entertain yourself with except your own thoughts. You struggle to not eat food rations or make prolonged eye contact with your Norwegian bunk mate sitting directly across from you.

Days 62 & 63: February 2 - 3 (26.6km)

The next morning, the skies opened up to a beautiful day! The perfect day to summit the biggest mountains of the ranges.

Just after admiring a sprawling view, the clouds came in, bringing a drizzle of rain. Once we climbed above the tree line the raindrops turned to snowflakes. Cute!

All of a sudden it wasn’t cute anymore. Flurries of snow blasted across the ridge and covered us head to toe in white. Our hands froze, our legs burned bright red, and all we could do was laugh in disbelief.

We dipped into the trees soon after and arrived at the next hut by 10am.

We ran inside to heat up, to find none other than our friend Ali! We hadn’t seen her since Christmas.

The three of us debated whether to head up the mountains, but they were still covered by snowy clouds and we couldn’t tear ourselves away from the fire.

But then the Norwegian bunk mate guy took one look outside and said, “this is way better weather than in Norway” and charged up into the ominous cloud without hesitation.

Two long days waiting out weather and it was finally time to conquer the Rintoul mountains. But this time, at dawn.

We started for the first summit at 4:45am. Up a scree slope in the dark. It was freezing. And windy. And frigid. But pink clouds spun through the sky making it feel pretty magical.

We climbed over both Rintoul mountains by 8am. Woohoo! But both of us mentally checked out after that, thinking the hard part was over. Fatal mistake. The climbs never stopped. We stayed above the trees the entire day and could see our final destination which was many peaks away. Beautiful yet painful. We finally arrived at the hut 12 hours after departing that morning (many long breaks included)

Days 64 & 65: February 5 - 6 (41.1km)

Besides big ascents, the Richmond Ranges were characterized by good company and good food (thru hike edition).

A poem about a delicious creation we watched an Austrian man make:

A tortilla spread with peanut butter

A chocolate muesli bar slapped on top

Cranberry chocolate chip nut mix

And peanut m&ms

All together in a beautiful roll

As our food dwindled by the day, our meals became increasingly creative and questionable.

We pooled the last of our food on the final day and created a burrito masterpiece of:

Tortilla, spread of instant mash, salty ramen noodles,chili lime cashews. Mmm mm good.

Across the table Ali ate ramen noodles between two slices of bread.

The final kilometers of the section were above the beautiful Pelorus River, laden with emerald pools that were painfully out of reach most of the day. (Photo of Sad Maddie shadow unable to access water)

Then all of a sudden it seemed, we heard childrens’ joyous screams, and turned the corner to a perfect swim spot with granite jumping rocks and a big beach. Heaps of picnicking families swam and laid, enjoying the public holiday. We drearily stumbled into the river. Euphoria. Laughing delusionally. No one noticed our presence. We did it!

For the last four days on the trail, we’ll be joined by Maddie’s parents. Vacation mode activated.

Until next time!

Maddie & Anna