Te Araroa (day 57) - Two Thumb Track to Stag Saddle [TA Highest Point] / mile 1477

Another interesting day on the trail, this time I went through Te Araroa's highest point.

It started in wet fashion, fortunately it wasn't rain but the river crossings. Trail was following and climbing along the Bush Stream, there were many crossings and the water after overnight rain was quite high. I've arrived with my feet wet at the Crooked Spur Hut at 9am, took the shoes and socks off and had a breakfast. Vicki from New Zealand was in the hut waiting for her friend to arrive, she gave me weather update, it looked like we had a decent conditions for the next three days.
I carried on walking to the Stone Hut and the Royal Hut, the trail started to follow the Bush Stream for the second time today. At this point I made a decision to camp somewhere around Stag Saddle, the highest point on Te Araroa, it didn't have to be the top itself as the weather here was supposed to drop to minus 3 degrees at night but a sheltered corner somewhere nearby would do me just fine. I got to the top at 4pm after a lot of searching, the trail markers were missing and the gps got a bit crazy. I took a bunch of photos here and started to make my way down while looking for somewhere to stay.
After one mile I accidentally (again no trail markers) stumbled on a small dry lake area, fairly well sheltered from the wind and with a good view of Lake Tekapo. I decided to pitch the tent here, it was at around 6000 feet (1830m) elevation, definitely the highest point I stayed during the whole TA adventure. It would probably get quite cold at night but I was willing to test my gear and if it was too severe, have an early start.

It was another enjoyable day on the trail. I only have half of the South Island left to traverse at this point and it starts to feel like the end is approaching quickly.

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