Day 74: Ian and Frank’s Shelter to Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre (18km, 9 hours)

Once again, a restless sleep. And two quick sprints to the loo in the morning - a wee dose of the runs. Maybe it’s a hand-washing issue, hard to maintain good hygiene while hiking with limited water. I hope it doesn’t last!

I was off at 7:45am, initially along a small road past the local reservoir. 

View of the local reservoir

More impressive from this angle!

After a while a farmer drove past in his ute, and asked where I was going. Just as well - apparently I’d missed the hidden turnoff to today’s trail and had sauntered on 500m too far. I hopped in the back with his dogs and he dropped me back to where I should have been.

This is where today’s Mangahao-Makahika track starts. And, once again…

Oh no. More MUD!

The first hour was a gut-busting, muddy uphill slog. If anything, today was even muddier than yesterday. Finally I made it to the top where the track levelled off for a while - only to pull up with a yelp. Somehow I’d tweaked my Achilles tendon rather nastily - maybe my foot twisted in the mud, or I banged it with my pole at a bad moment, or it was just overworked. I spent several minutes swearing profusely and wondering how I would go on. After a while the pain settled down, and it felt walkable, as long as I didn’t push up with my toes. Easier said than done, especially on very uneven muddy ground. I carried on, very slowly, hobbling with my right foot turned sideways to avoid activating the tendon.  

The mud continued - at times the track was like an endless river of mud. It was often easier to go crashing through the bush off the track, to find a way through, and it was clear other hikers had been trying the same thing. But progress was very, very slow as a result. The trail headed steeply downhill again, and it was a relief to get to the bottom where I knew there were several streams to cross.

Mostly just ankle deep 

10am pic: More streams!

To distract from my sore heel I started trying to recollect the words to a few songs. The songs in my head are often only snippets - sometimes just a few fragments of tune and a couple of lines that I play on a repetitive loop in my mind. But today I managed the entire words to Wish You Were Here (Floyd) and Space Oddity (Bowie). That got me on to Where Are We Now - but that’s another song that’s appeared on my mental playlist before, (am I allowed repeats?), and again I only know fragments. It’s a maudlin song, which matched my mood for a while. I wanted to take a pic of me by the side of the track, with the obscure caption ‘Sitting in The Dschungel’. But it was too muddy to sit, and the moment passed.

Fast forward for more hours. Up again.  Down again. Mud everywhere. Tweaking my heel and yelping occasionally. Slipping on my bum. On and on, at a snail’s pace.

Hiking through native beech forests. A rare section that was level and mud-free. It didn’t last

Did I mention mud?

View from the top of the hill…

…and looking the other way

Finally, the track levelled off, and followed a stream, criss-crossing it multiple times and even wading down it for a short while. Clearing started to emerge, and eventually it popped out onto farmland.

And then they came to the bridge of the single hayuh. And Molly Woppy ran over! (Well, wobbled over very slowly)

My last squirm

An unexpected final water crossing on the farm. Just when my feet were drying off

There was no clear signage showing the way through the farmland, so I guessed. After skirting nervously past some cattle (not sure if they were bulls, I was trying not to make eye contact), I found a stile onto the road, and a few km later was at the Makahika Outdoor Centre campsite.

Cassie was already there - she’d skipped ahead right at the beginning when I missed the track. In fact she’d been there for almost two hours and was getting ready to send out a search party for me. I’m not fast on uphills, downhills and mud at the best of times, and my foot had really slowed me down today. We were the only two hikers at the campsite today, so possibly the only ones thinking of crossing the Tararuas tomorrow. 

Campsite at the Makahika OPC

After setting up our tents, we started to thing about the crossing to come. The weather forecast showed a wind warning and rain in the second and possibly third days up in the ranges, which was not good. The Outdoor Centre owner Sally came by after a while, carrying the box of food I’d mailed here before Christmas (yay, it arrived!).

Opening the goodie box I posted down. Now I have food for the Tararuas

Sally also gave us some advice about the crossing. Apparently the second and third days of the crossing in particular are the ones where weather is most important - strong winds can push you off ridges, rain can obscure vision and make the footing treacherous on the downhills (especially the 1.3km altitude descent on day 3). And if the temperatures drop the combination of wind, rain and cold can easily push hikers into hypothermia unless they have alpine experience and gear.

The weather app didn’t yet have accurate updates for day 3, but they should appear early tomorrow morning.  We decided to wake early tomorrow, check the weather for the most recent updates, consult again with Sally, and make a decision then about whether to cross. We went to bed very tired after our big day, and very apprehensive about the days ahead.

So, a massive decision to make in the morning. We both have come here to do the crossing, but the weather is apparently not in our favour. We’re novices, my Achilles seems passable for now but may be risky under stress, and we will possibly be alone on the mountain in bad conditions for 4-6 days. Fingers crossed for a better weather update tomorrow, and a safe crossing!! 🤞🤞

Today’s route