Day 76. Travers Saddle. January 17, 2016.

15.5 km
Upper Travers Hut km 1971 to Blue Lake Hut km 1986.5

It wasn’t clear today but it was dry and warm. So, was it worth the wait? Who knows? Or cares. I got lots of glimpses of the mountains. And I could see farther than when I am in the trees. And I loved the day. What more could I ask for?

Once Arno and Sean caught up to me and passed me I didn’t see anyone else until I got to the hut.

Arno and Sean

Travers Saddle

Those nice yellow flowers have not-so-nice sharp spikes

When I got to the hut I walked the 5 minutes to Blue Lake. It’s sacred to the Maori and is the clearest lake in the world. The visibility has been measured at 80 meters. Other than that it was very unremarkable.

The way up to Waiau Pass was sort of clear when I got here. Sean and Arno had decided to beat the weather and go over the pass for a monster day. I was too late to even think about that.

There is a Kiwi family with  8 and 10 year old girls sharing the hut. Plus the 3 women from Christchurch that were in the last hut are here. It sleeps 16 so it isn’t crowded.

I keep looking at my food trying to decide how long I can wait out the weather. It still hadn’t rained by 3pm when i got here. Then around 4 it started. The forecast has been wrong everyday for the last 4 days. I think I will just look out the window tomorrow and decide what to do.

Yesterday and today I tried to get a weather forecast with my Delorme InReach SE. It sends the message but doesn’t get any messages. This is very frustrating. Not that it would be accurate anyway.