"Heavy showers clearing out in afternoon" - that was the forecast for the second day of our longest and hardest track since we got to NZ.
We were about to walk 7.5 hours on the second day and to see the most amazing views of the whole track. We had no choice. We had to take a chance and make that track even though we knew the chances of having rain were high.
We started the track on the 6-JAN at 14:00. We knew we had only 2 hours walk and we didn't want to get to the camping too early.
It was quite a difficult walk with the heavy bags. It was walking through the bush, which we are already very familiar with, so it wasn't that exciting for us. The rain started pouring on us already at about midnight and we heard it banging over our tent that whole night. It didn't stop not even for a minute.
We started the second day with heavy rain. We climbed for 2 hours until getting to the first hut and the whole time it was raining. we were also wearing rain coats and rain pants, which made it even more difficult. We decided to wait in the hut until the rain would stop. We waited for more than 2 hours but it kept on raining. We knew we had still more than 5 hours walk so we couldn't wait anymore. We continued our climbing in the rain. It was all foggy around us so we couldn't really see anything. It was very very disappointing. We felt we were walking only for the sake of reaching our next target - the camping - and not enjoying the highlight views supposedly of the track. We reached the top of the mountain - about 1300m. Finally the rain stopped. Good news? No! It was still foggy and we could barely see 2m ahead of us.
We continued our walking towards our camping area. We arrived to the camping area very tired. Our whole body was hurting and the last hour of walking was for me (Karine) a real suffer.
The last day was the compensation of the whole track. Finally the clouds cleared out. Mushi could finally take some pictures. Our body was very tired on the last day, however, it was the easiest day for us to walk because we could finally enjoy the views and feel we were walking with a purpose and a reward - the amazing snowy mountains, raging waterfalls and blueish lakes of the Routeburn Track!
We were about to walk 7.5 hours on the second day and to see the most amazing views of the whole track. We had no choice. We had to take a chance and make that track even though we knew the chances of having rain were high.
We started the track on the 6-JAN at 14:00. We knew we had only 2 hours walk and we didn't want to get to the camping too early.
It was quite a difficult walk with the heavy bags. It was walking through the bush, which we are already very familiar with, so it wasn't that exciting for us. The rain started pouring on us already at about midnight and we heard it banging over our tent that whole night. It didn't stop not even for a minute.
We started the second day with heavy rain. We climbed for 2 hours until getting to the first hut and the whole time it was raining. we were also wearing rain coats and rain pants, which made it even more difficult. We decided to wait in the hut until the rain would stop. We waited for more than 2 hours but it kept on raining. We knew we had still more than 5 hours walk so we couldn't wait anymore. We continued our climbing in the rain. It was all foggy around us so we couldn't really see anything. It was very very disappointing. We felt we were walking only for the sake of reaching our next target - the camping - and not enjoying the highlight views supposedly of the track. We reached the top of the mountain - about 1300m. Finally the rain stopped. Good news? No! It was still foggy and we could barely see 2m ahead of us.
We continued our walking towards our camping area. We arrived to the camping area very tired. Our whole body was hurting and the last hour of walking was for me (Karine) a real suffer.
The last day was the compensation of the whole track. Finally the clouds cleared out. Mushi could finally take some pictures. Our body was very tired on the last day, however, it was the easiest day for us to walk because we could finally enjoy the views and feel we were walking with a purpose and a reward - the amazing snowy mountains, raging waterfalls and blueish lakes of the Routeburn Track!
