From Stone Hut to Camp Stream Hut
Hiking time: 08:30a.m.-04:30p.m.
Daily/Total distance: 20km /655.5km (215.5 hitched/skipped)
Steps: 31291
Weather: cloudy morning, rain from noon onwards with sleet joining in at the saddle as well as strong winds

While the Canadians got up again at 6am this morning, I was a hit more lazy and had a lie in until 7am before I got up to get ready. I continued talking to the NOBOs before heading off myself at 8:30am.

The track immediately crossed Bush Stream again. I managed to get across though with my feet still dry.

The trail them followed the river further up. There were hardly any marker and I only knew when to cross the stream as a marker would pop up then.

After 2h I reached Royal Hut with sunshine just peeking out. This hut is named Royal Hut as Prince Charles and Princess Anne stayed here.

I had a short stop to eat my Snickers, apply sun lotion and visit the dunny. Then I was off again for the ascent of the highest point, Stag Saddle. There were further rivers to cross on the way up, hut I managed to keep my feet dry.

Then the trail derailed away from the river and up the mountain on a slightly steep tussock covered mountain side. Markers at this point were again far and few. I had to stop at each marker to really search for the next one.

Then it started raining. I expected this, as my weather report had forecasted 2h of rain at this point. I continued on, my previously dry feet now getting wet from the wet tussock. So all the stone stepping has been in vain.

I reached Stag Saddle at 1pm. While it had only been raining on my way up, at the saddle there was a strong wind blowing up from the valley I would be descending into. At this point the rain had also mixed with some snow and sleet started to come down. Visibility was not very far. While I was not in thick fog, I could only see about 100m surrounding me.

At this point I was already wet, except for my core where my rain jacket had protected me. My hand were wet and the moisture was travelling up the inside of my sleeves. With the added wind it became quite uncomfortable. Usually one prefers to walk the Ridgeline which means a further ascent and then down the ridge with great views of Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo. But as I couldn’t even see the ridge and the wind was a bit strong I decided to go down into the valley.

I couldn’t see a marker coming down into the valley but as I knew this would be the general direction I had to go so I just went down. After 10min I saw a marker and went into the general direction. The wind did not dissipate on this side if the Saddle. Reaching the marker I couldn’t for the life of me see the next one, so I just went further down, all the while looking out for the next pole.

This continued on for quite some time. While at the top I had turned on my phone and once I got reception I looked up the weather report and saw to my dismay that it as now supposed to continue raining until the evening. So much for the 2h of rain forecasted before.

I ventured on, continuing downhill. I had put on some music to sing aloud to to distract me. At the same time I consciously looked for any signs that I might get hypothermic. I didn’t want to stop and pitch my tent here, as it was quite windy and by the time I would have the tent up it would be wet. Also with me already being wet I wouldn’t be sure I would get warm inside a damp tent. So I went on. At times even speeding down the mountain. This wrecked havoc though with my knee and resulted in me limping the last 1.5h towards the hut.

I had never been so glad to reach a hut as when I got to Camp Stream Hut at 4:45pm. I could already smell smoke from a chimney in the distance and knew there was already a fire going.

Inside I found the Canadians and the hut from the UK as well as two NOBOs. This left exactly one bed for me. I was so happy about that. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep outside. I took ages to grab my dry clothes and change into them. Then I cooked myself a hot ramen bomb and curled up in my sleeping bag. I couldn’t charge my phone to watch a movie as moisture had gotten into the USB port and I had to wait for it to dry-.-

The hut was very old and quite tiny. With us 6 inside and all out wet things spread about there was hardly any room to move in. And the fireplace didn’t work as well as it could have. Every time one opened the floor to look at the state of the fire a whole bunch of smoke came into the hut and we had to open the door to get air inside. By 7pm the rain finally stopped and we had a nice view of the surrounding mountains, or at least the parts of it that peaked out behind the clouds. The tips were covered in fresh snow that must have come down that day. I knew that it had been colder than the forecasted 5°C up at the Saddle.

With the rain gone we ventured to the dunny and down to the river to get water. Then everyone got ready to get settled for bed. The guy from the UK decided to move outside as he can’t stand the mice. So I took his bottom bunk, which was much nicer for me. I also had the hunk on the single side and could have my feet hanging over the end without kicking the person at the end of my bed.

By 10:30pm I then went to sleep, still a bit chilled and so ready for the Tekapo springs the next night.