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.