We had a few days off for Easter so we drove up to Marlborough for a few days of hiking and camping. I should really stop planning such exhausting vacations.
We've been perfecting our packing game and we were able to get away with only bringing one large pack and one smaller one, both lighter than the last trip. We did regret leaving our little inflatable camping mattress, without which there was nothing to stop the ground from murdering our bones and sapping away our body heat throughout the night. We didn't sleep well. I also hurt my upper back a few weeks ago, and though I was feeling pretty good before the trip, even my very light pack brought a lot of the pain back. The funny thing about that is that it turns out, the Queen Charlotte track is equipped with all kinds of little luxuries we haven't found on other tramps: you can sleep on real beds, get your food from cafes or homestays, and possibly most self-indulgent of all, you can hire a boat to carry your luggage for you. FANCY! If we had it to do again, we might save ourselves some pain and take advantage of that last one, I heard on the track that it's actually not that expensive. We did stop in at a cafe on the trail for some change and empanadas, which were unbelievably tasty, further proving that working your butt off makes any meal 100% more delicious. And someone should totally do my remote gourmet restaurant at the top of a mountain idea. Just saying.
Why did we need change on a hiking trip, you're probably not asking? Well I'll tell you anyway. Another thing about this trail that's a bit different from the other ones we've done so far is that you don't book your campsites in advance. This meant we could change plans on trail, which was pretty great, but also that we needed to carry cash in the right amounts to leave at the DOC site. (You get a little tag to display on your tent to show that you've paid.)
Why did we need change on a hiking trip, you're probably not asking? Well I'll tell you anyway. Another thing about this trail that's a bit different from the other ones we've done so far is that you don't book your campsites in advance. This meant we could change plans on trail, which was pretty great, but also that we needed to carry cash in the right amounts to leave at the DOC site. (You get a little tag to display on your tent to show that you've paid.)
At first the forecast called for rain on all but one of our hiking days, but lucky us, the storm came earlier and we got quite a bit of sun! Most of the rain we experienced was light, or at night while we were sleeping (love the sound of rain on a tent). And there was about a minute where we were inside a cloud, which was also pretty wet.
The trail was muddy, and I may have at one point slid through it on my butt. I wish I could say it was graceful or intentional, but you know how it went down. There were probably a lot more stream and waterfall crossings than you'd encounter in a drier season, but we thought that was kind of fun. For about a kilometer at the beginning we were walking uphill through a freshly-formed stream running down our path, which was surprisingly not as hazardous as the mud. I'm learning that for peak slipperiness mud can't be too wet or too dry. There's a perfect medium it has to reach to really knock you on your ass.
The trail was muddy, and I may have at one point slid through it on my butt. I wish I could say it was graceful or intentional, but you know how it went down. There were probably a lot more stream and waterfall crossings than you'd encounter in a drier season, but we thought that was kind of fun. For about a kilometer at the beginning we were walking uphill through a freshly-formed stream running down our path, which was surprisingly not as hazardous as the mud. I'm learning that for peak slipperiness mud can't be too wet or too dry. There's a perfect medium it has to reach to really knock you on your ass.
A word of warning, if I haven't mentioned this before: the time estimates given on the DOC site are for walking at a good pace without stopping (even to oogle the scenery, check out a cool bug, or watch as wekas and fantails cross your path). Basically the estimates are there to tell you how long a section of trail will take you without any enjoyment whatsoever. Serious trampers might not agree, but for us, the perfect hike length which doesn't require waking up at dawn, allows room for exploring and savoring a bit, and gets us to our next camp site before dark is the DOC estimated 3-4 hours. More than that and it feels less like a holiday and more like punishment. As it is, we wound up getting to our first night camp site a little bit after dark and we could not have been more excited to see the owner's flashlight coming towards us. A person! Hurray!
I should probably mention that we didn't start our hike that day until 10:30am, when the water taxi dropped us off at the starting point. It was glorious though, because during the 90 minutes we were on that taxi we saw seals! And dolphins! They came up and swam right alongside our boat, and we wondered whether they actually were trying to warn us of the impending destruction of our planet. If only we spoke dolphin.
Anyway, at this point this entry's timeline is about as convoluted as a Christopher Nolan movie, so I'm going to wrap this up with pictures of the breakfast we treated ourselves to on Easter morning on the last day of our hike. It was at a real honest to god restaurant on the trail. The height of fanciness. Maybe it will inspire you to cook yourself up some eggs on ciabatta. Yum!
I should probably mention that we didn't start our hike that day until 10:30am, when the water taxi dropped us off at the starting point. It was glorious though, because during the 90 minutes we were on that taxi we saw seals! And dolphins! They came up and swam right alongside our boat, and we wondered whether they actually were trying to warn us of the impending destruction of our planet. If only we spoke dolphin.
Anyway, at this point this entry's timeline is about as convoluted as a Christopher Nolan movie, so I'm going to wrap this up with pictures of the breakfast we treated ourselves to on Easter morning on the last day of our hike. It was at a real honest to god restaurant on the trail. The height of fanciness. Maybe it will inspire you to cook yourself up some eggs on ciabatta. Yum!
Ok, I lied. There's another thing I have to show you: a real life Mario mushroom. If you eat it you'll double in size. Or die. One of those.
It was a beautiful trail. I'm glad we did it--but I have to admit that right now I'm just really happy to see my bed again.