Telford Burn to Lower Wairaki Hut

Telford campsite was just magnificent last night!  I got a wash & soak in the creek, washed all of my clothes, and got a spectacular view up the valley out of my tent.  Sandflies came up in the evening, thick enough to act like curtains for my tent, and mist slowly envelopped the hills.  I did catch some nice stars in the middle of the night.  (This is the first night I haven't been bone-tired enough to sleep like the dead through the entire night.)

Today was another short day over to Lower Wairaki Hut.  As per the DOC, it's 9km and was expected to take 5hrs.  For those of you unfamiliar with the DOC measurements, they're designed for fit mountain goats.  If you are neither fit nor a mountain goat and the DOC tells you that it will take one hour to travel about one mile, you are in for some pretty intense terrain.  The trail started with a brutal climb straight up a hillside.  And I do mean straight up.  The kind of straight up where you use your hands to grab the tufts of grass hanging out right beside your face, so that you can scoot your foot up another step.  The climb was mostly through scrub and tussock, but there were some small and tricky sections on scree.  After of two hours of climbing, I was on to a long and steady descent through the woods.  I'm glad that I went NOBO here - descending that climb would have been terrible!

I was considering continuing on to Aparima hut since the weather was so perfect and warm today.  Trail sign at Lower Wairaki shows 16km rather than the 13km in the notes, though.  I'll take another ~6 hour day tomorrow and a long steady march out to Te Anau the next day.  The hut here is lovely and reassuring.  Where Martin's was damp and cramped, Lower Wairaki is dry and open.  The fact that it's in the open and not in a muddy wood probably helps.  My feet didn't love the downhill or the mid-afternoon burst of speed, but my feet and knees are both noticeably starting to strengthen.  (The rest helps!!!)

There were some neat mushrooms along the trail today - small, near-sperical yellow balls.  When they grow big enough, it looks like the stalk gives up and the top goes rolling off, dispersing seed.  There were also lots of meadow flowers on the way up - daises and some small yellow flowers by the ton.  Hopefully, I'll get some more practice climbs like today before I reach the really meaty mountains further on!