An accidentally large day

I'm starting to think that I'm just an idiot after taking a zero.  Today, I was hoping to get to the "reserve" just past Lake Hawea, so I headed out sort of early into an ominous-looking day.  I continued around Lake Wanaka on the bike path into a fierce wind.  There were plenty of locals out for their morning exercise.

By the time I got to the outlet track that followed the Clutha River out of the lake (river named after the Cluite or Clyde River in Scotland), the wind had settled a bit.  The Clutha was almost a jade color, and it was flowing quickly.  Apparently, it's one of the fastest-flowing shipping rivers in the world.  (Should have brought my innertube!)  The Clutha also had a fair number of those alpine shrubs with tiny white flowers and plenty of butterfly bush.  After 1-2 hours on the pleasant path beside the river, I turned to walk up the slightly more blue Hawea River.  There were some pretty exposed and dry areas that got pretty hot, and there were also some nifty SoCal-style desert mountains off in the distance.  There was also a busy gun club.  Nothing like continuous banging to help you relax.  Though the Hawea River trail was far less scenic, I did get to check out a 2-feature whitewater park.

Two thirds of the way along the Hawea River path, the rain finally began.  It continued as I walked along the banks of glacier-fed Lake Hawea.  As you would expect, the water was a lovely bright teal.  I ran into four SOBOs, two of whom, unfortunately, reassured me that I could camp before the 1000m climb at the end of the bike path.

When I reached the "reserve" around 2:30, I was much chagrined to find a sign clearly stating that camping was banned in the area.  I made the possibly dangerous and probably foolish decision to climb the 5k up to Pakituhi hut rather than backtracking 8k to Hawea's holiday park.  The first kilometer was on the road, leaving 4km to climb 1000m.  Thankfully, the trail was well worn, clearly marked, and generally obvious.  With the fog and steady drizzle, typical TA track would have been much more challenging.

Though I caught a glimpse of the lake and some ridges earlier, the clouds were steadily filling the valley and shrouding the mountains.  The trail zig zagged up 450m through woody ferns to a sort of saddle, and by the time that I hit the rock and tussock filled ridge that climbed the remainder of the way, the clouds had completely concealed the lake and were starting to drift up my ridge.  Soon enough, puffs of mist covered everything outside of a 150ft radius.  I startled a few sheep on the rocky scramble up and waded through an incredible amount of pebbly dung.

The lookouts probably would be stunning on a clear day, but I was grateful for the cool weather as I climbed.  I was even more thrilled to hit the hut at 6, 1-2 hours faster than the DOC signs predicted.  I'm weary tonight, but excited to be locked in to a short day along the ridge of Breast Hill tomorrow.