Day 70. Magical, Mystical Morning. January 11, 2016.

21 km
Slaty Hut km 1861 to Tarn Hut km 1882

It was a foggy morning with glimpses of the mountains. The way was marked with orange poles. At times it was very difficult to find the next one. Kind of fun…. as long as the next one did appear.

The centerpiece of the day was Mt Rintoul. Little Rintoul 1643 meters (5390 ft) was first. The view was white.

Going down was steep, rocky and slow.

The sun kept trying to burn off the fog but never did.  I got to the top of Rintoul still in the fog. There was a patch of blue sky…. such a tease. But it wasn’t windy and was warm and dry.

One minute…..

…..the next. Come on sun, you can do it.

My original plan for the day was to stay at Rintoul Hut. But it was 1:30 when I got there so I kept going.

Most of the day was above treeline….. but the view didn’t change until I got to Purple Top when the clouds lifted a bit.

It was 5 when I got to Tarn Hut. Enough for one day.

Tarn Hut only had one person, Steve from Nelson…. a Kiwi and not another TA walker. He came out here for some quiet time…. and now he knows the path of the TA. I hope Kiwis dont start resenting us. Later, Andy from England showed up. And still later Jamie from Montana walked in. She is walking north and doing bits of the TA.