Very long day today. I got up early this morning and got some sweet sunrise shots. It was decently after sunrise when I made it out to the trail but it was still super pretty.

The climb to the top was pretty nice. Not too long. It was super windy at the top and I got cold pretty quick but the views were worth it.

After that it was a long descent down a farm track with some ups thrown in for fun before I got to Stody’s Hut. Martin’s Hut was bad. This place was worse. Glad I decided to stay at Pakituhi yesterday. Signed the logbook, used the toilet, had a snack and mosied on.

Past that I got down to the river after a while. The one I’d be crossing 10 times before the day was through it took a while. Very steep descent. And my feet were telling me so. But I finally got there. It was a nice river. Crossed it. Crossed back. Immediately climbed a huge hill that hut kept on going it seemed. Long nice forest track for a while then some more climbing. After what felt like forever I made it back to the river. Cross. Cross back. More super steep climb. For a while I was wondering why we were even doing all this climbing. Aren’t we just following the river? Why go up to go back down? Well. The river is a river. It flows down hill. This one just happens to be pretty steep.

Forest sections are boring to look at because you can’t see anything, so I didn’t take any pictures. I was on a mission too so I wasn’t doing a lot of stopping to smell the roses.

The river was pretty. Tasted a bit grainy even after filtering. Makes me wonder if my filter is even doing anything. Oh well, placebo effect.

Finally after ages I made it to the hut. It’s tiny. It is completely full. Like with all the people camping outside sitting inside there was no room for me to even go in. I’m camping outside. Bleh. After 12 hours the last thing I wanted to have to do was set up my tent. But here I am. I think tomorrow is going to be a short day. The pacing on this section sucks. Tomorrow is either a super short day or a very long one. The notes take me to the carpark but there’s no camping there. There’s no camping for like 10k prior, and none for about 10k after. So basically tomorrow is going to be to get to the very edge of the legal camping area and camp. Even if it’s 8am. There’s a huge climb ahead of me but it’s all 4×4 track so it should be easy. 2.5 days and I’ll be out the other side of this section at Lake Ohau.

Oh. Guess I should say. I’m grumpy. I hate walking all day only to find a stuffed full hut I can’t even go inside and sit in. I have a feeling it’s just going to be more and more frequent going forward too. Makes me kinda want to find something else to do.

I cried a bit earlier. I think I’m back to being lonely, and then pile frustration on top of that which makes me both not pleasant to be around and not even want to be around anyone and it’s a recipe for sadness. At least this time I was less worried about people judging me for being slow and more just frustrated at the hut situation. I killed it today. Very tough day and I did it. Proud of myself. But still. It’s days like this when I’m not having fun that make me wonder why I’m even here doing this. If it’s not fun what’s the point? Maybe I’ll find it in the next section.