Day 70: Burttons Track to Levin (1514-1520.7)
Tuesday, February 7
It rained, poured and gusted all night. A few times I had to get up to stick a tent stake back in the ground so I didn't sleep amazing. No matter what we wanted to try to leave at 8 am so we could make it to the outdoor center tonight. I'd read that the people who run it are amazing and really welcoming to TA hikers.
When we were all packed up around 8:30 it was still raining. Luckily there was a little creepy shelter at the campsite so we could stand in it and stay pretty dry while we all packed.
We crossed a few rivers. They were moving pretty quickly but they were shallow so we could handle it. A little before 10 am we got to another river. It was about three meters wide and was running pretty fast. It was cloudy but I could tell it would only go up to my mid thigh and was pretty confident I could make it across. Sara was a little nervous so I grabbed my PLB and walked across to show them we could do it.
Sara and Creya tried to walk across together but it didn't work very well so Sara went across and bent a skinny tree down for Creya to hold onto while she crossed. Sara held it down on the far and I walked to the middle of the river to give Creya something else to grab a hold of since I felt more comfortable crossing the river. As Creya was walking across I held onto her wrist as she slowly moved closer and closer to me. All of a sudden she lost her footing. I held onto her wrist and moved closer to her to try to get her closer to shallow ground. It wasn't working.
I let go of her wrist to grab her backpack strap for a better grip. Her footing was still lost and I couldn't do anything. She started going down the river and I had to let go or travel downriver with her. After she left my sight, I was chest-deep in water. I had bent or been pulled down somehow trying to help Creya and I knew I had to stand up to be able to walk back to Sara. I struggled for what felt like an eternity. In reality it was probably only a minute or two.
Finally I was able to stand up so the water was only below my waist and made it across back to Sara. The water had risen since I went in to help Creya. It was further up the trail than before. We bushwhacked downstream and realized after a few minutes that we were only in a feeder stream for a larger river. We couldn't search any further down the river without getting swept away. There was nothing to do but push my PLB. The river had taken Creya away so quickly we were worried she was a goner and we'd never find her.
We tried calling her name but knew it was no use. The river must have carried her further than she could hear us. Sara and I couldn't decide if we should stay there or go find help. We were really rattled so I suggested we sit for 5 minutes and think about what to do. I looked at my watch. It was a few minutes after 10 am.
I was trying to stuff bad thoughts out of my mind with thoughts of options for the best thing to do to help Creya. All of a sudden we heard Creya's voice calling our names. We couldn't believe it. She sounded fine. A moment later she appeared on the trail on the other side of the river.
We yelled over the river, asking her if she was ok. She said she was fine. I was in disbelief. And relief. It had gone from the worst experience on the trail to one of the happiest moments. Sara got down on her knees and started to cry. She was so relieved to see Creya. They had been hiking together since Paihia.
Since Creya was ok, I turned off the PLB.
We (now) knew the river was too high to cross. Yelling across the river to talk to each other, we decided that we'd each camp at the first flat place on our designated side of the river and meet at 9 am tomorrow or later today if it stopped raining to see if the river was low and slow enough to cross.
Sara and I hiked down the trail a bit to see if there were any grassy patches nearby. A lot of the trail was a tiny river because of all the rain. After walking about a kilometer we went back. There had been a forested area we could squeeze our tents into if we really tried and I wanted to be closer to Creya.
We set up our tents (my vestibule had to be clipped around a little tree to fit) and I rung out my clothes. I hung my raincoat in a vestibule and put on some dry clothes. I put my wet shorts on and got in my sleeping bag, hoping my body heat would dry them by tomorrow if the rain didn't stop. I fell asleep for maybe an hour and when I woke up it was barely raining. I went out and dug a poop hole and an extra one incase I'd need to use it while it was pouring.
My shorts were only lightly damp now, so I decided to put my wet tank top on to try to dry it out the same way. I curled up in my sleeping bag and put on Ocean's 11. Kristen showed me that you can download certain movies and tv shows on the Netflix app and it's wonderful.
Halfway through the movie, close to 2 pm I think, I heard a mans voice in the woods yelling something. I figured they were looking for us because I had pushed the PLB. I got out of my sleeping bag, grabbed my rain coat and heard someone call again. I called back as I got my shoes on and said something to Sara to make sure she was awake. Two men were on the trail and I could tell they were search and rescue. Sara and I explained what happened and kept apologizing for spending their time and pushing the PLB but they kept reiterating that we should have pushed it.
Once they wrote down a few things I walked them down the trail to the river and told them Creya should be in the first place you can pitch a tent, but that she didn't know we pushed the PLB because we could only talk by yelling over the river. The feeder river had gone down so much since we tried to cross it.
They told us we could continue on the TA or walk back to their car with them and they could drive us to Levin. Walking with them sounded great to Sara and I. We were pretty shaken up and would have had to get to Levin in two days for food anyway.
They found Creya and told us we could pack our things while Creya packed her stuff up. We went back to our tents and as we were finishing packing up they walked up the trail with Creya. We both have her a big hug and talked with her while they set up an antenna to radio back to Levin.
As we walked back, we found out their names were Dave and Dennis. Dave is an electronics supplier and Dennis is a funeral director (when he told us that at first, Dave broke the ice telling us it was for real and not a joke). They were fun to walk with and I also asked them if I was right to turn off the beacon.
When I turned it off, they got confused and didn't know if they should send someone. If I had left it on, a helicopter would have been there ASAP. It seemed like forever to Sara and I, but I think they said the PLB had been on for less than 10 minutes, so Dave and Dennis decided to hike out and make sure everything was ok.
Before we knew it, we made it to their car. On the way out Dennis noticed deer legs in the road. They hadn't been there on their way in and they explained there was a problem with people hunting illegally on that land.
They were so nice to us and drove us by the dam on the TA trail so we could see it. As we got closer to Levin, they got cell reception and called the Levin Police Department. We had to answer some questions and they asked them to get fish and chips for all of us. My phone got service a few minutes later and my mom had frantically texted me. Since it was my PLB that went off and she's my emergency contact she had gotten a phone call. I texted her back telling her I was ok and explained why I had pushed it.
Around 6 pm we drove through town. Dave and Dennis pointed out where they work (across the street from each other) and we made it to the police station and ate fish and chips while Fiona, a constable there, interviewed us. She had to leave home while she was making dinner so she was periodically answering phone calls to her kids to talk them through everything. We apologized a few more times, but everyone there (Dave, Dennis, Fiona, and the guy who coordinates everything whose name I cannot remember) said we should have pressed it when we lost sight of our friend.
We told Fiona everything that had happened and when Creya told her side of the story after we lost sight of her in the river Sara and I teared up. Except for stupidly trying to cross the river, we had made good decisions. Dave and Dennis offered to drive us to the holiday park and we could continue hiking in the morning if we wanted.
Since all our stuff was soaked, they made sure a cabin was available before they went home. The three of us hung up our tents and did a load of laundry and drying. We decided we'd take a zero day tomorrow and figure out what we wanted to do for the trail ahead.
As we were hanging our tents we met two really nice Kiwi TA hikers, Wendy and Ian. We told them what happened and they told us they were planning on road walking to Waikanae to avoid the bad weather in the Tararuas. We were pretty exhausted so after talking with them we were just about ready to all go to bed.
The dam
Another view of the dam
Creya and Sara walking up to the dam
Dave and Dennis took a photo of us with the map of where the PLB went off. It probably seems weird that we are smiling so big, but we were really really happy everyone was ok.
Dennis, Creya and Dave.
Dave and Dennis pointed out a train car stuck down in the valley on our drive to Levin.
Our awesome room for the night at Levin Holiday Park.