Day 49 – Arthur’s Pass to Goat Pass

Today’s trail took me up the Mingha River, and made me deeply appreciate the system of national parks.  There was more vegetation, more birdlife, and better track than on any single day of my entire tramp previously.  I believe this is actually the first time my route has taken me through a national park.  The weather was beautiful too, which added to the enjoyment.

I was about halfway through the day when I came up opposite a massive waterfall, hundreds of meters tall.  I sat leaning against my pack and watched it fall, dozing in the sun.  Pretty soon I fell asleep properly and had a little afternoon nap.  No problem, because progress was easy today – I’d have no trouble reaching the hut.

This track is used by part of the Speight’s Coast to Coast race, a multisport adventure across the South Island.  Because of this the hut books are full of entries like “Training for coast to coast,” “Counting coast to coast runners,” and so on.

I crested Goat Pass, and for the first time on my Te Araroa tramp I was crossing the Main Divide.  Like America’s Continental Divide, this is a set of ridges and passes which split all rainfall in New Zealand into that which drains to the Pacific and that which drains to the Tasman Sea.

Immediately on the other side of the pass, the track standard took a turn for the worse, turning into a steep downhill scramble over boulders.  I was hopping repeatedly back and forth across increasingly large river pools as the infant Deception River found its legs.  I was often glad there was no rain, because slippery rocks would have made this much more challenging.  I was very surprised that the trail was not of a consistent standard with the Mingha Valley trail, considering that both are used by the Coast to Coast race.

I stayed at Upper Deception Hut, an older hut with a real fireplace instead of a log burner.  I still had daylight and was reading down by the river, when I was surprised to see a skinny tattooed Kiwi picking his way up the river, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.  By now I have become so used to staying in huts alone that it seems a bit unusual to have company.  But news from down the trail is always welcome, and my new companion had just come over Harper’s Pass, the route I was beginning.  He told me the Deception tomorrow would be hard, but the rest should be fine.  Most importantly he informed me of a natural hot spring about halfway through my trek.  I looked forward greatly to having a warm soak.