Susan and Carrie's summer tramping adventures - part 1: January 2023
Kaimanawa Ranges, January 12-13
Our planned three-day tops exploration in the Kaimanawas got down-sized to a quick overnight to Waipakihi Hut. It wasn’t quite the warm-up we’d hoped for, but did allow us to knock off a bit of the holiday rust.
Lewis Pass to Lake Rotoroa, January 18-24
Our first Big Tramp of the summer was a 7-day route from Lewis Pass to Lake Rotoroa — via Ada Pass, Three Tarn Pass, the Matakitaki Valley (West Branch, then East Branch), David Saddle and the D’Urville Valley. The scenery was spectacular, the terrain challenging but manageable, and the weather perfect for walking — not too hot, great visibility and only a couple of overnight showers.
Much as we love to get away from highly populated tracks, some of this route was far less travelled than we had anticipated. For 5 days we didn’t see another human and some of the hut books went back 10-15 years! Due to the low traffic, the best place to walk was sometimes hard to find, and on a few occasions we lost significant time scouting around, which resulted in some very long days. The descent from David Saddle (day 5) was particularly challenging and we didn’t make it to our intended destination that night. Fortunately we got off the hill and down to the valley floor at dusk, and stumbled across a perfect little campsite just as it got too dark to go further.
The last couple of days were a long trudge down the D’Urville to meet a water taxi back to the Lake Rotoroa carpark. Overall it was a pretty tiring trip, but incredibly satisfying.
Much as we love to get away from highly populated tracks, some of this route was far less travelled than we had anticipated. For 5 days we didn’t see another human and some of the hut books went back 10-15 years! Due to the low traffic, the best place to walk was sometimes hard to find, and on a few occasions we lost significant time scouting around, which resulted in some very long days. The descent from David Saddle (day 5) was particularly challenging and we didn’t make it to our intended destination that night. Fortunately we got off the hill and down to the valley floor at dusk, and stumbled across a perfect little campsite just as it got too dark to go further.
The last couple of days were a long trudge down the D’Urville to meet a water taxi back to the Lake Rotoroa carpark. Overall it was a pretty tiring trip, but incredibly satisfying.
