Otaki Forks to Waitewaewae hut

7/11/21, Day 29, 13km, Total 816km
Elevation Gain: 741, Loss:532
A short and hard day.
Slept in till 8 knowing that today was relatively short.
Another SOBO hiker, Nigel, was having his breakfast. He had arrived at 9pm last night. Was good to compare notes. He really got hit by the Southerly winds on the ridge and had to take a zero day at one of the Huts up their.
Interesting that 4 of stayed in that hut last night and I was the only one who filled in the hut Intentions book.
I was off by 9.30 and soon came to a sign that said 10km to the hut 6-7hours. 10km road walking takes 2hours so the track must be seriously bad.
The track initially followed an old tramline. I was wondering how they bent the rails to go around corners.
At one point the track came to this massive slip. It’s huge. Had to backtrack to find the route around it. Carried on along the tramline with my brain switched off as I totally missed the signs at a turnoff. Took me 20 minutes to realise I’d made a mistake and to get back to the turnoff.
From that turn off the track is designated as a route. That means it’s rough – and slow.
A lot of climbing today which is tiring – but tomorrow is worse.
Looks like I’ve got this hut to myself tonight. It’s a nice hut built in 1991 and 50m from a good river. I nearly had a swim but a bit cold. Was nice to relax in the sun for a while.