Day 38: Kaniwhaniwha Campsite to Pahautea Hut via the Bell Track (838.5-847 TA, but hiked 18.5 km)

Friday, January 6

The couple I talked to yesterday said the trail I planned to take was pretty easy, so I wasn't in a huge hurry to get going. It was 18.5 kilometers to the hut and that seemed pretty doable.

Robin left early and headed down the trail. I was planning on taking the Bell Track to the hut, and the Te Araroa tells you to take a different track to the hut. But I thought the cave and the tree sounded worth the extra kilometers.

After waiting awhile for my tent to dry, the clouds weren't leaving the sky and I was restless to start my day. Around 9:30 I had everything packed and hit the trail. It didn't take me long at all to get to and explore the Kaniwhaniwha Cave, a limestone tunnel. And I made it to the kahikatea tree, the tallest found tree in New Zealand at 66.5 meters high, before I expected. There was a nice bench you could sit at and look at the tree, so I sat there and ate a snack.

Around 1:30 I made it to the halfway point in the track from the campsite to the Pahautea Hut. That section of the hike was supposed to take 4-6 hours and had taken me 4, so I just assumed the next half, which was supped to take 4-6 hours would take me 4 hours. That would put me at the hut around 5:30. Nice and early! There was another nice bench at the halfway point so I stopped for another snack and took off my pack for a few minutes.

So far the trail had definitely been muddy in parts, but the mud had been mostly avoidable if I tried really hard to get around it.

Soon that all began to change. The trail had incredibly steep sections where I had to pull myself up by roots, trees and rocks. The mud became unavoidable and I just accepted that I'd have mud up my calves. The forest was really reminding me of the Raetea Forest - but there was no way for me to duck out of this forest early if I wanted to get to the hut tonight (in the Raetea Forest, I cut about 6 kilometers off the trail by taking a different, shorter trail to the highway).

I fell a few times, had mud up to my knees and 5:30 came and went. I tried to look at the mud as fun, as so many TA hikers are able to, but I was getting a little tired and really thought I was in for an easy hike today. I finally made it to the cone, the high point in the Bell Track to the hut. I was hoping it would take me about a half hour to get to the hut from the cone. It looked like it wasn't more than a kilometer and a half to the hut on my gps.

I didn't think it was possible, but the trail only got worse for the next kilometer. I was walking through some unavoidable ankle-deep mud and all of a sudden I sank to just below my butt. The mud was nicely trimming the bottom of my shorts. But there was nothing to do but finish that last kilometer to the hut. It was probably about 7:30 and I had about an hour to hour and a half of good light left.

A few minutes later I was clambering down on the trail and one of my hiking poles just snapped! I don't think I fell on it but who knows. Part of me wanted to cry and feel sorry for myself but (I guess you could say luckily for me) there was nowhere but mud to sit. I had to keep moving or stand in the mud. By now I had less than a kilometer to go. I carried both poles in one hand, one correctly and one upside down (both sections stayed together this way and I hoped I could tape it together in the hut). I used my other hand to grab at trees as needed.

So far on the trail there had been a few random sections of one to two meter-long sections of boardwalk. But all of a sudden, around 8 pm I hit a really long section of boardwalk. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I was almost positive it would continue to the hut. I knew there was a helicopter pad at the hut (an easy way to get lots of boardwalk-making supplies in the middle of nowhere). A little after 8 I saw the hut!!! I was so happy to see it!

Robin was there and already asleep but Puff Puff and Julia saw me. They ran out to say hi and couldn't believe how muddy I was. My butt was covered in mud and I think Puff Puff took a photo - I'll add it here later if I get a hold of it. Luckily the hut was AMAZING and it even had a boot cleaning station. After complaining about the trail to Julia and Puff Puff I used the boot cleaning station as a leg cleaning station pretty effectively. The hut had multiple bathrooms, room for 20 people, 2 sinks inside, three big tables with information all over them, and platforms for camping (it's way too muddy up there to camp on the ground). The platform camping area even had a shelter with a table, benches and a drying line.

Once I got cleaned off (compared to how I started - I was still slightly caked in mud) I pulled out a mattress for myself and talked with Julia and Puff Puff and a lady named Vicky in the common area of the hut. I had met Vicky in the hostel in Hamilton and she had been planning to come out to the forest. She was so nice and Puff Puff and Julia had convinced her to join our river trip at the end of the month. It's going to be so fun!

The hut had a beautiful view of the sunset! We watched the sun go down, I ate some snacks, and Julia, Puff Puff and Vicky played cards while I tried to decide what to do tomorrow. My tent uses my hiking poles instead of tent poles, so I knew I needed to get new ones eventually. Going backwards to Hamilton was probably my best plan because the next town I'll travel through with an outdoors store will probably be Whanganui, and I won't be there until January 31.

If I made it to Hamilton tomorrow, I could get a hiking pole and get a bus to Waitomo the next day, arriving on the day I had planned to get there. That seemed like the best plan and I was exhausted so I went to bed.

A fun suspension bridge right after the tall tree.

This was fun to get through with my pack. The vines like to grab it and try to pull it off my back, but I'm getting better at maneuvering over and under trees and through these vines. There's usually a spot or two like this in most of the forests.

The view from the cone. Since I was hiking so slow the light was beautiful when I arrived there.

One of the bunk rooms in the Pahautea hut.