Legs and Borders

Sunday, 21st of January 2024. Grindy day, it reminded me of hiking Tararua Range in North Island. Trail was constantly going up and down like an endurance run and the last climb was just pure ridiculousness. Early morning start as per usual, I finished the climb onto Martha Saddle and begun descending towards Top Timaru Hut. Trail was quite easy to start with, running along Timaru River on 4wd track. I got to the hut at 9am, one Nobo hiker was still here, she told me that next section is a bit of a head scratcher. People tent to walk it along the river but after few days of rain it wasn't possible, flood track was the only option. Top Timaru had one of the more picturesque long drop toilets on the entire TA so I had to take a picture before I left. Problem with the flood tracks running along the rivers was that they rarely made much sense. They ran way up then tumbling back to the river, cross it to the other side, cross it back after 50 metres, ...

I nearly went through all four seasons today, crossing Ahuriri wasn't possible so I had to take the detour. It was still raining in the morning, I put my wet underwear, pants, socks and shoes on, ate porridge I cold soaked overnight and hiked out. Next couple of hours were a mixture of rain and wind. Wind would dry my clothes, rain would make me wet again, it happened several times. Eventually weather stabilized, but it was quite windy until the whole day. At around midday I started to see Northbounders, few crosses the river yesterday and camped on the other side but the ones trying to cross today couldn't do it, everyone was taking the detour to the bridge few kilometres downstream. I reached Ahuriri at 1pm, checked both recommended crossing points, but the water would go above my knees immediately after stepping into the river and my trekking pole would disappear while trying to check the path. Water was all muddy, current very...