Day 43: Ngaherenga Campsite to Bog Inn Hut (969-985)

Wednesday, January 11

Today was a great day! We knew we had a short day, so Puff Puff and Julia and I left the campsite around 9:30. My tent was almost dry and I knew we should be at the Bog Inn Hut in the afternoon where I could dry it out a little more.

Kristen left a little before us and I said goodbye to Erinn and Trevor before we left. We began the day on the Timber Trail. It's meant to be a mountain biking trail so it was so wide and flat! There were information signs all over and we took a detour to see a tractor from the 1920s. The TA left the Timber Trail to take us over Pureora Summit. It was a really nice bush trail up to the top and the sky was mostly clear. We left shortly after I made it up there because it was so windy.

It was a little muddier on the way down, but I still enjoyed the trail and knew it was only 5 kilometers from the summit to the hut we planned to stay at. The TA went back on the Timber Trail for about 2 kilometers before going back on a bush track to the hut. Right around 3 I made it to Bog Inn Hut where Julia, Puff Puff and Kristen were eating snacks at a picnic table.

After hanging my tent up to dry a bit more I joined them. Julia read us the first chapter from Drum of the Sea: The Story of Captain Cook. She got it at a hostel they stayed at. Before dinner we all made our beds. As we were getting ready to eat our dinners a lady showed up at the hut. There are only four bunks at the hut and there were four of us, so she was a little disappointed at first. We all talked for about an hour and I told her if she needed to stay at the hut I could pitch my tent, but she only had a short hike back to her bike and a short bike ride back to her car.

We all ate dinner and relaxed in our bunks while we talked. When it got dark around nine, we started hearing critters outside around the hut. Julia and Puff Puff had heard there might have been a rat problem at the hut, so we had our food bags hung or in our sleeping bags. Hopefully nothing comes in the hut tonight!

Tomorrow we have another short day to Waihaha Hut, which we heard is nice, so it should be another good day on the TA.

A little muddy section of trail. Other forests have definitely been worse than this though.

A really nice section of trail to the hut.

Julia reads her book about Captain Cook to us.

Everyone all tucked into their bunks in the Bog Inn Hut.

Here's a funny photo Puff Puff took of Julia and I during one of our breaks on the Timber Trail. I was trying some gummy teeth, one of Julia's favorite snack foods.