Te Araroa (day 47) - West Sabine Hut to Waiau Hut [Waiau Pass] / mile 1263

Fortunately weather gave me enough time to go over the pass, I would be trapped in the mountains for an extra day otherwise.

It was another early start day. I've woke up at 4am and packed as quietly as I could to not wake up people sleeping in the hut, then I started hiking towards Blue Lake Hut with a head torch on. I was getting lost quite often in the dark but that was to be expected when the path was going through landscape damaged by floods and avalanches. I was suppose to follow the river upstream which I did, except sometimes it wasn't the river but the stream that was flowing into it.

I reached the Blue Lake Hut at 7:30am, here I've had a final check up with other TA hikers regarding the weather. Rain was suppose to start at noon and walking through a pass in it wasn't a good idea. Waiau Pass had an additional difficult section which involved climbing down on the steep and exposed rock ridgde, it could be treacherous in bad weather. It looked like with a current pace I could make it over the pass and that particular section before the rain. Few other hikers were considering doing the same thing but most decided to wait out the weather until tomorrow.

I had a fast Spam and tortilla breakfast, got a look at the Blue Lake, a highlight of Nelson Lakes National Park. It was one of the cleanest freshwater reservoirs in the world, water of which we were not allowed to touch or have a swim, in order to not introduce bacteria or fungi.

"The visibility in Blue Lake was found to be typically around 75 metres and as much as 80 metres. This is close to 83 metres (calculated theoretically) for distilled water."

I carried on hiking along the Blue Lake and Lake Constance another sacred and protected reservoir. After that the final climb commenced. It was slow going, trail was made of fine scree, very steep and with no switchbacks. I have reached the top of the pass at 11am and managed to complete the difficult downward scramble just before the rain started. It was only a light rain but in this exposed environment it really made you reconsider your life choices. Rocks got slippery and hard to walk on safely. At that point I just wanted to get out of there as quickly and safely as possible.

I was done with it 45 minutes later, standing safely on the flatter and protected from the elements part of the climb. Now it could rain on me all day, the pass crossing mission was over. It took me another few hours of walking across boulder fields, streams and meadows before I've reached Waiau Hut.

Unfortunately it was half full already with some teenagers stinking it up with a fire, hut was messy and baking hot inside. I was tired at this point and wanted somewhere quiet to have a good sleep after two days of early starts. I decided to carry on walking until I find a suitable place to set the tent.

Luckily the glaciated landscape resembled one huge campground, I found an amazing spot just one mile later. While unpacking I have been immediately swatted by a bunch of sandflies, so I set the tent and ate the dinner inside. Rain carried on dripping for the rest of the day. I set my pad and sleeping bag up and went to soon after, having bird songs and a distant hum of the river carry me to sleep.

Thanks to today's effort I should have more options for the sections ahead. The trail for next hundred miles looks much easier.