I woke as usual before dawn and lay in bed, still too early for the birds.
The five hours to Stone Hut should be sufficient for my body after yesterday, and I would need an early start from Kings Creek Hut, so that all meant I was in no hurry.
Whilst still dark, a whio whistled away close at hand down at the noisy water.
Later, in the early light, I went down to catch sight of it and saw a pair sitting on a rock together with their backs to each other. I went closer and found it was just some timber washed up and bleached in the sunlight.
Not even the sandflies were out making their annoyance felt.
The Karamea River is steep here and emits constant sounds. That’s more than noticeable in my solitude in the hut. The wekas had left for breakfast in the forest, rather than their futile foraging in the long grass in the clearing.
Despite the eight windows, including the small skylight, I’ve never really warmed to this hut. It has two decent benches for cooking and a large stainless steel top table with plenty of seating around. Maybe it’s the general gloominess and dampness with the forest shading on three sides and the steep, stark hill to the north cutting out the early-morning direct light.
I’ve walked the Lost Valley Track twice, in each direction, but for some reason, I never managed to track to Wangapeka Saddle.
It had been raining in the night; it had to be rain to be heard inside, but it was looking slightly more optimistic weather-wise than the day before.
All this left me unenthusiastic about starting out, as well. The DOC sign states four hours to Stone Hut. More reasonable people have written in the hut book that five hours would be good in the current overgrown conditions.
I’ve got all day.
After some heavy showers, it was after 11 am before I set sail.
The first part of the track has some short, steep climbs, sidling well above the river, but it became easier as the day went on.
Some drizzle, but it was mainly mizzle.
I sat and watched two whio foraging in the river at the point I had to cross it. Heads were well underwater at times.
At the last crossing at the start of the pack track to the saddle, with its constant gradient and few obstacles, I met a group of six blokes around my age, one of whom was interested in how far it was to the hut. I’ve been going for four hours by that stage, and they mentioned it had taken them 2.5 hours from Stone Hut.
Yikes! I’d better get moving.
It was cruisey to Wangapeka Saddle, where I’d previously turned off from the other direction on my Matiri Ridge Little Adventure eight years before.
Down the other side is a rockfall area with some ominous new moss-free boulders of significant size, having made their way to the creek since my last visit. Looking up, it looked as if others might join them soon enough. That led to a hastening pace.
The hut was empty and a mess.
But the sun had finally come out and the cloud proportion had reversed from earlier in the day. Almost all blue sky.
It was just 2.5 hours or so to Kings Creek Hut, but it was now late in the day, and I’d be doing some head torch work if I continued. The drizzle/showers had really disrupted my momentum.
Maybe I could dry out before I needed to start hitching.
A guide to the night’s accommodation: Stone Hut
