Te Araroa Day 87, Crooked Spur Hut to Camp Stream Hut

Starting km: 2259
Finishing km: 2389
km covered today: 30

This day seemed to zip by, despite my being on the trail for over 12 hours.

In the morning I headed from the busy Crooked Spur Hut (9 occupants, 8 bunks... I'd played Hearts with a group of Kiwis and one American the night before) to the empty (or so the hut book told me) Stone Hut.  This walk really did feel almost lonely. Just me in a very big, very sparse landscape. Well, me and a couple of kea flying above and a big herd of Tahr.

The walk was lots of climbing and descent, but I've got pretty good at that.  And at anticipating where the trail is likely to go when the markers are spaced too far apart to see easily, another skill that came in handy more than once on this day.

Just before arriving at the hut, I found a big patch of snowberries and had a second breakfast of them. They look and taste quite a bit like blueberries (except for their being white, of course.)

The 5.5km on to Royal Hut (so re-named after Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited it) was frustrating. The tussock and Spaniard and speargrass was getting very big and I often couldn't find the previously used path between the marker poles and had to push/stomp/bash my way though it.  But the sunny, solitary morning tea stop at the beautifully sited hut was worth it.

After morning tea came time for the day's main action, the climb up to Stag Saddle.  At 1925m it's the highest point on Te Araroa.  The marker poles were once again far apart, but there weren't too many places the trail could plausibly go, so my guesses usually proved right or at least right enough.  And as I mentioned before the climbing wasn't a big deal, even at an elevation where thinner air starts to make a difference.

Up on top of the saddle I met a group of TA section walking Kiwis headed the other way. We took the obligatory photos, but were actually all rather engrossed in our phones. There was supposed to be reception on top of the saddle and I hadn't talked to Sarah in a while, and I hoped to pre-book a bed in Tekapo for the next night as I remembered being stuck without accommodation there in the past at this time of year.

None of this really worked, but I at least got a text off to Sarah saying "hello, I'm okay, could you please book me a bed at this place in Tekapo, I'll call you from there." (As it turned out I actually got to talk to her later in the day from a spot further down.)

Down from the saddle their was a choice, the valley route or the ridge route. The latter purportedly had nice views, but could only be done in good weather and required a bit of navigation.  Fortunately it was sunny, with hardly any wind, even on top of a 2000m pass. So the ridge it was.  And wow, what views! Ahead, teal blue Lake Tekapo from above. Behind, Mount Cook and all of the other grandest glaciated, snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps.

I sat myself down on a rock for a 90 minute lunch, which is pretty exceptional given that I usually think half an hour is a long break.

The views continued pretty much all the way down the ridge, and when it eventually ran out I was within spitting distance of the Camp Stream Hut. There was only one other TA walker named Karsten there, but it was a very old hut and super hot inside, so I actually decided to set my tent up instead.

Later in the evening two women showed up. They worked in Tekapo and were just out for an overnight tramp. They'd carried up two (glass) bottles of wine and six beers, not to mention all sorts of food that looked profligately heavy to Karsten and I. None of this was unreasonable for an overnight tramp of course. Just a  funny illustration of how time on the trail can change your perspective.