Day 6. Raetea Forest…. Oh, The Mud! 11/8/15
33.5K. Kilometer 140 to 173.5
It’s baptism by fire out here. Te Araroa doesn’t break you in gently. It’s steep, slippery, and full of roots. Today was even harder than yesterday. I hiked 9 km in 5 hours! And the amount of energy expended per step is huge. And I keep thinking of all the hikers I have seen with HUGE packs. I’m sure they used Wild as an example of how to pack.
I climbed up quite a few peaks today but it was too overgrown so there were few views. It’s like the AT.
And did i say there was mud, mud and more mud. I fell several times. But when I caught up to Jackson and Brett they said I looked pretty clean. Ha.
But despite all that it was kind of fun. What would it be like in the rain? Horrors.
A goal today was to get to the Mangamuka Dairy before it closed at 3pm. I got there at 3:15 and it was still open! If the owners know another hiker is on the way they stay open.
I had an egg and bacon burger…. the egg is the burger and bacon here is kind of like ham with lots of fat! It was delicious. I sure am eating a lot of eggs here. My appetite is far above what it has been on any other hike this early in the game. It was a real energy depleting last 2 days. Hopefully, what I have heard is true…. these Northland forests are some of the hardest hiking until we get much farther south. Or maybe I will just get used to it.
Now I understand why Kiwis call this tramping. It’s not really hiking. It’s completely different.
I am camped at Apple Tree campsite. 4 new to me hikers were already here. Nathan (Chaos), Brett and Jackson are also camped here. It continues to amaze me how many hikers I am seeing. Most seem to be Europeans doing their first long hike. And most have huge packs. I wish them luck.
At sunset Nathan and I walked an extra couple kilometers to the Kauri Sanctuary at the end of the road. The trees have huge trunks and the branches start really high up.
See the mud on my pants
I should have taken more photos today. I think I was just too humbled over going 1 km per hour. And I was tired.
nancyhikes 
Wow, Nancy, this trail sounds tough; beautiful scenery. Are there “lions, and tigers and bears, oh my?” Mosquitoes? We have snow in the mountains–hurrah!
NZ has no mammals or snakes that can kill you. Nothing but your own stupidity. Mosquitos have been few so far. Yay for snow.
Thank you for this beautiful blog. An experience of a life time for my son Brett. Please say hello to him for me when you see him next time …….
I will say hello as soon as he wakes up. You have a wonderful son. He is fun to be around.
Read your blog to se how your where doing But what arrogance towards us Big packs because it must be team euro you are talking about.
You have no idea what i/we have done before or how we Like to trek so please fokus on your own hike because it seemed hard enough even With the umbaella when i passed you With my Big pack on….
Hope to se you later on the trek so i can make you a hot Meal and offer you a cup of warm Coffee instead of those bars you only seem to eat…..
And by the Way the woman in Wild was American not from Europe….
Hey Rune, I am sorry that is how you interpreted my post. I have been called many things but never arrogant. My blog is meant to be about my experiences and observations. As I hiked thru the Herekino and Raetea Forests I kept thinking of all the huge packs I had seen so far on the trail. I hadn’t met you yet so of course I wasn’t thinking of you. I love the diversity out here. Hike Your Own Hike. Make your own observations. I hope we meet again on the trail. I will gladly accept a hot meal and hot coffee. Maybe we can talk about how you hike and what you have hiked. Because we really haven’t talked at all. Maybe start over on the friendship part.
This is not a very humble post Nancy. I’m one of the Europeans with a HUGE(?) pack at the Apple Dam, and I’m getting a bit annoyed reading this post. There’s a first time for everything and once upon a time you had your first thru-hike too. No need of having a bad attitude in the most friendly country in the world, and I’m honestly surprised how a grown up woman can feel the need of criticizing other peoples decisions.
My backpack weighs around 20 kilos, but trust me – I enjoy sleeping in my dry tent at night, having hot meals in the evenings and a coffee in the morning. We all have different reasons to hike, we all have different preferences and you have no idea what so ever what I’ve been doing before I came here. I did 50k from Orewa to Auckland a couple of days ago and I feel perfectly fine with my HUGE pack. “I wish them luck”…that’s a very ironic and immature thing to write, and tells more about you than me and my trail friends.
I hope you enjoy your hike so far. See you in Bluff.
Helena, I finally have time to reply back to comments on my blog. I am sorry that you have read so much into my blog post. Congratulations on 50 km in a day and your continued enjoyment of the trail. I hope we meet again before Bluff and have a chance to find out more about each other. I am very impressed by your strength.