Te Araroa (day 63) - Martha Saddle to Breast Hill / mile 1600
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, ...