Day 71. Richmond Range – 4 Huts, That’s Nuts! January 12, 2016.

31 km
Tarn Hut km 1882 to Porter Hut km 1913.

Today was the best day on the trail yet. It started with a gorgeous sunrise and CLEAR skies.

The track down to Mid Wairoa took 2 hrs 45 min not 4 hrs. But it was steep and much easier this morning than it would have been at the end of the day yesterday.

The way to Top Wairoa Hut was all about waterfalls, blue pools, and 8 river crossings.

After Top Wairoa I was finally above treeline and into another world.  It kept getting better and better. First I had lots of boulders and tussuck to walk over.

Then I got to the saddle and the views opened up. I took so many photos up here. It’s where I love to be.

Hunter Hut is in a beautiful setting. I could see it 4 km before I got to it.

The weather forecast going in was for light rain tomorrow morning so I wanted to get as far as I could today. At 3pm I checked the weather again using my Delorme InReach SE. Now the rain isn’t supposed to happen til 2pm tomorrow. It was 5:15pm and another 4 hr estimate for time. Since it doesn’t get dark until after 9:30 I had plenty of time.

The trail notes say undulating between Hunter and Porter. It was steep up and down over and over.

I finally saw the orange hut….

Sean and Arno were there and no one else. Perfect. I went inside and started eating.

It’s perfectly clear outside. Hard to imagine that it is going to rain tomorrow.