Legs and Borders

"Work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It's the best part of the day." George Allen Sr. Last full day of the Richmond Ranges section, tomorrow if everything goes well I should stay in town for the night. First portion of the day was a long climb along the Wairoa river with many crossings throughout the way. Water was freezing cold. The sun didn't show up in the valley until late morning so my feet got quite numb. Eventually I've reached Top Wairoa Hut where the trail departed from the river and started to climb towards Mount Ellis. Once there the steep rocky descent begun. I slid two times on the wobbly rock and landed on my butt. I was low on food, my energy levels weren't great and my body needed those calories to keep up the pace. At 3pm I've reached Hunters Hut and decided to push to the next one as that would put me in reach of St Arnaud, the town where I could get my next r...

New Year's Day. The views day. Today trail has been passing through the most scenic part of Richmond Ranges and probably some of the nicest landscapes on the entire Te Araroa. The weather also couldn't be better. I had an early start from Slaty Hut and reached the ascent to Little Rintoul Summit around midday. For the next two climbs and descents the surface was a scree of various sizes but generally getting smaller as I went through it. I didint mind walking on this kind of terrain especially when it was dry, but it could get a bit.. wobbly. Couple of people were really taking their time here, making sure they go through it safely. After climbing Little Rintoul it was turn for Mt Rintoul standing proudly at 1731 metres, the highest peak on The Araroa in Richmond Ranges. It was a really cool looking mountain, and to be fair the whole area was stunning. The descent from here was a very fine scree, you could slide on it ...