Jen's Horrifying Tramping Stuff Up and How it Was Saved by St. Peter

We now interrupt this blog to bring you some late breaking tramping news.

As some of you may know, Scott and I have booked a trip to the South Island in two weeks that consists mainly of camping in a camper van and tramping in and around the Fiordland National Park. As our "pre-tramp" tramp, we thought we would get warmed up by doing a loop in Pirongia Forest Park just two hours south of Auckland.

When I went to the tramping equipment shop to pick up our rented poles and a map, the fellow behind the counter remarked, "Oh, your doing Pirongia, eh?" To which I replied, "Uh-yep." He proceeded to talk about it fondly saying that it was a good tramp, but not particularly popular. In fact, he doubted that there would even be anyone else at the hut on Saturday night. I then asked him specifically, "Why isn't it too popular?...IS IT HARD?" To which he replied, "Well, this part in here is a bit steep, but there are some chains to help you up." To say that some parts of this tramp are a bit steep is like saying that some parts of the ocean are a bit wet.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Things were a stuff up from the beginning. First, we decided that since we had rented a car for the trip down, we should visit our friends on the North Shore who are rather difficult to get to by bus. So instead of packing, preparing and getting a good night's sleep on Friday night, we drove 20 minutes north and watched Hot Fuzz (a hilarious movie, by the by). That meant that instead of getting an early start on Saturday, we spent most of Saturday morning dashing about the house and throwing things into the packs a little less organized and a little later than we would have liked. We ended up making it to the park and starting the tramp by noon. No worries, it should only be a 5-6 hour tramp to the hut, so we should surely make it by nightfall, even if it takes us more like 7 hours...

The second stuff up was when I confused the Tirohanga track and the Mahaukura track and started us around the loop the "harder way". It was definitely the longer leg of loop that we were taking first, but to say that it would have been a lot easier going the other way around is stretching things a bit really. Anyway, it did not matter because I did not realize my mistake until over an hour into the tramp at which point we were committed to continuing on as daylight was literally burning.

Things started off O.K. Pretty flat and what we were used to.

A massive tree had fallen over right next to the path.

And it took me three photos...

To capture the whole thing. It had fallen into another tree and the angle looked like you could run up the fallen tree to the top of the other tree.

Blue mushrooms!

One of the "steep" bits with chains.

Starting to get concerned.

About two hours later we had gotten into some quite tough up and down sections that were very steep and had big steps that had me scrabbling up or sliding down muddy inclines. It was about this time that we realized that we were making very poor progress and started to worry about reaching the hut by nightfall. After about 4 hours of extremely difficult tramping we were seriously worried as we saw the light fading. Now we could theoretically have bivouacked somewhere along the trail using an emergency blanket as a makeshift shelter, IF there had been any flat parts of track at all. The only flat part thus far had been the helicopter pad that was on top of one of the peaks where it was quite blustery. We were discussing our few and bleak options when along came Peter.

Peter is an amazing man who was truly heaven sent, and I will always be grateful to him for his help. He immediately saw that I was struggling and offered to carry not only his own pack, but mine as well, and help us to get to the hut! Turns out he is not only an incredible person on the weekends, but during the week is a neurologist who specializes in stroke victims! He chatted to us amicably as we strained and struggled. Scott even offered to take his pack several times, but Peter said he was doing just fine. His pack was quite light actually because he was an ultralight tramper. He gave us some of his chocolate and helped me stay upright, and on we hiked...And then it got dark.

This was no problem for Peter as he pulled out his headlamp. Scott and I on the other hand only had hand held flashlights which were a bit difficult to hold on to along with the poles (Peter did not have poles by the way). Not only that, but my flashlight ran out of battery power about 10 seconds after we turned it on. Not to worry said Peter, Scott would just walk in front and I would go in the middle and he would shine his headlamp forward so that I could see. We tramped for another hour in the dark before reaching the peak of Pirongia. From there the sign claimed it was just another 30 minutes to the hut! Thank goodness!...That sign was a blatant lie.

After another hour of tramping we finally reached what was supposed to be an unpopular hut. The heaps of gear and tent outside claimed otherwise, however. We woke up the four people sleeping in the hut and the two in the tent before managing to get them to give us the three extra mattresses so that we could sleep on the floor of the hut. It had been 8 hours of tramping with the last 2-3 in the dark, and the hardest tramping Scott and I had ever done save the scree field on Fanthom's Peak. I pretty much had nothing left. I changed into my dry clothes and lay down on the bench outside the hut while Scott and Peter cooked dinner. Fortunately, I was able to eat our rehydrated freeze dried meal and felt a little more human, but that did not stop me from breaking down into tears when I realized that we had to do the same thing again tomorrow to get out of this terrible place.

I thought surely that being so exhausted, I would sleep like the dead, but sleep was maddingly elusive. In the morning Scott was chipper, but I was probably in a state of shock. The only thing that made me feel an iota better about the situation was the kind Kiwi couple from Hamilton who talked to me over breakfast and said that not only had they found the tramp that we had done quite difficult, but that they reckoned the estimated time was quite off. Now, you do not understand what that means coming from an experienced Kiwi tramper. Translation: This tramp is neigh impossible for an American and it really should not be attempted by someone who has only tramped a few times before unless they have 12 hours to kill. Honestly, we have NEVER heard a Kiwi say a tramp was hard before. "Oh yeah, it's a bit rough," maybe or "It's a bit of a challenge," or "You'll make it by nightfall," but never "We found it quite difficult".

Our savior, Peter, at the hut on Sunday morning.

Stick bug on Scott's bag.

Anyway, we tried to be up and out of the hut as fast as our battered bodies would allow, so that we would make it back to the car without any fear of tramping in the dark without Peter. We had to summit Pirongia again on the way out, but were at least rewarded this time by a pretty spectacular view from the look out tower.

Delightful Dutch couple who were sleeping in the tent at the hut. He is a trauma surgeon doing a fellowship at the same hospital as Peter works!

One good thing was that we had beautiful weather both days.

Cool bug on my pants.

I would say that the track back was modestly shorter and easier, but it was still nearly impossible. Towards the end I just wanted it to be over and was moving forward solely on Rage and Hatred, then Despair, and finally Desperation. It was made so bad by the fact that a sign would say that the carpark was 2-3 hours away and then tramping for an hour to find a sign that said that the carpark was still 3 hours away. It was also made more frustrating by the day-hikers without packs that said things like, "You look like you've been through the wars!" Many of these cheery folks had never been past the 4 hour mark where the trail becomes a nightmare, so they just did not understand.

A typical bit of "trail".

More "trail".

Can you see the "trail"?

At the bottom of a rocky ravine.

The next peak we have to go to.

Some cheery day-trippers took this photo of us.

Scott is holding me up.

Berries that are blue, but not blueberries.

Long story short, too late, it took us yet another 8 hours of tramping on Sunday to reach the car. Thank goodness Scott still had the energy to drive us home because again, I was pretty much in shock. No permanent damage was done thankfully although there were times when I came dangerously close to breaking an ankle or a wrist. I am now just hoping to recover before our South Island tramping...which we are currently seriously reconsidering...

Beautiful sunset on the way home.


Not so pretty pictures coming up.


Sheer rock face 1, Jen's legs 0.

Backpack 1, Jen's shoulder 0.

Right elbow.

Left elbow.

Left thigh.