Te Araroa Pt. 12
Day 58
Day 58, 14 Jan 18
Rested all this while. After Auckland I went straight to Hamilton. My legs were completely broken, even without my pack I can't even make it down the stairs properly. Tried to minimize movement and got lots of pills and stuff.
Stayed in Hamilton and did basically nothing, then went to Rotorua. Went to see a doctor there and did some touristy stuff. Went from there to Te Kuiti. This means I skipped one huge chunk of the trail. I think it's around 300km.
The resting has caused me to become weaker. I was struggling through the bush section. I couldn't catch my breath, and was sweating buckets. I got really dizzy at times. I had to stop much more than before. However, my legs feel alright now, apart from the usual aching.
Met two girls along the way. They were headed to a campsite outside the woods. I was following along, but I ran out of water and since it was late I just camped where I was. Not an optimal spot, the ground was slightly inclined and by lying down on that too quickly I snapped one of my tent poles. Great start. I was so tired I just went straight to bed without even having dinner.
I feel exactly like how I felt on Day 1 now. Slightly homesick, tired, and now I'm question myself why I am doing this again. I'll get over this soon enough.
Day 59
Day 59, 15 Jan 18
I thought it would be a quick 6km to the campsite so I only had half a bottle of water. I didn't have the energy to filter more last night and was impatient to do that today morning. Anyways it's only 6km right?
It was way harder than I thought it would be. Steep slopes and eroded tracks, and my hopes constantly being crushed. The promised farm track would only appear at the last few meters when I was already completely dehydrated.
At the campsite, a nice old lady who was the grandmother of the owner of this entire plot of land suggested that I hitchike to Pureora. After weighting my options which were:
- hitch
- continue and camp along the road
- stay and go to Pureora tomorrow
I decided to just hitch there. Besides, I was already dead from 6km and have no faith any more.
So right now I'm at Pureora hoping the mountain bike operator would reply to my texts. Otherwise it will be a ridiculously long walk.
Update: the kind man refused to rent me a bike. Now I have to walk a 5 day track with rations for 2 days.
Day 60
Day 60, 16 Jan 18
Absolutely incredible.
I did 40km today.
Tomorrow I aim to do 45km to get out of this forest and finish this trail (Timber Trail).
Though I started pretty late to wait out a drizzle, I managed to end before sunset.
Part of why I could finish it this fast was due to the good trail conditions. The trail was marked well, slopes were gentle, and there was only a little mud and obstacles. That's because this is actually a mountain bike track, but unfortunately I have no bike.
On the way I had to cross some suspension bridges. I was pretty scared and tried my best not to look down. It was really not a fear of heights, but a fear of trust and falling. These were just epicly long, crossing them feels like forever. Building them must have been a feat.
I have to be more confident in my planning and myself. Originally when I reached the Bog Inn Hut about 20km in I was still undecided as to where to go next. I was not tired enough to warrant sleeping at 3pm, yet I was unsure if I could do another 20km before sunset. I wasted a few miles there walking back and forth (the hut was like 1km down a fork) at least 3 times before making up my mind. In the end my restlessness took over and I pushed on at lightning speed.
I'm glad I pushed on, no regrets. Now I have the hope of finishing this trail on my feet as fast as someone on a bike. In my book that's pretty cool.
Day 61
Day 61, 17 Jan 18
I did it! Completed the entire Timber Trail in 2 days.
The pain was unbearable. I was trudging along slowly and painfully in the beginning till the #10 Campsite. I thoguth about resting there for the night so as to avoid injuring my feet further. However there was no proper water source there. I still had some water left and could survive the night, but I wasn't sure about tomorrow. There was a stagnant pool of brown water neraby and plenty of streams through the forest but I decided to get up and continue. What was another 20km? I've done plenty of 20kms so far and they don't seem that hard.
I changed from my trail runners to my boots. That helped a little. Now I know the reason behind my hurting feet: trail runners are too soft and lack support. Every step you have to flex your feet to reposition it for the next step and over the past 60kms it really took a toll. The boots helped, but it still hurt.
I slowly dragged on, although I was going slightly faster than before. Past the famous bridge with a long name, then the Ongarue Spieal. It was a spiralling path cut right through the hill and led into an unlit tunnel with dripping water and echo sound effects. All it needed were some scuttling insects and bats, and it would be the perfect spooky cave.
After that was track, track and more track. It was pretty dodgy though, because there were signs saying stuff like "risk of rock fall for the next 1.5km". On the way there was even this huge boulder in the middle of the track to prove that the signs weren't lying.
Finally I reached the campsite. I feel pretty amazed I pulled through all of that to be honest. 83km in two days, now that is some achievement. Despite skipping so much of the trail, at least I have something to talk about now.