Day 7
Sep 7 day 7 free camp on ridge to Apple Dam Camp 25 km 7:30-3:00 Woke to rain and cold, packed up quickly, put on wet clothes and headed out fast. The trail down to valley (5km) was ridiculous– standing water, looked like ponds in the middle of the trail. Soon I was completely soaked […]
Day 6
Sep 6 day 6 Digger Valley Road to free camp on ridge 24 km 7:30-5:30 The second worst trail I have ever hiked.
Day 5
Sep 5 day 5 Ahipara to Digger Valley Road 24 km 7:30-4:30 Started out beautiful, barely a cloud in the sky as the rains had come on hard all night but dissipated by morning. Made coffee in kitchen before leaving, then strolled through town, stopping to get a juice before striking out of town. The […]
Commencement
Commencement Cape Reinga, the northernmost point in New Zealand, is the Springer Mountain of the Te Araroa trail, the place of commencement. There is no public transport there, so you have to rely on hitchhiking, book private transportation, or get a ride on one of the tour buses that take tourists to various sites (Kauri […]
Day 4
Sep 4 day 4 free camp to Ahipara YHA 13 km 8:45-11:15 Woke up to roosters, and a cool but bright morning. Had coffee in the kitchen before setting off for a short morning stroll and the last of the beach hiking. Became cloudy and started to rain just was I arrived, got bunk room […]
Day 3
Sep 3 day 3 free camp to Holiday Campground 40 km 7:15-4:00 Carefully packed in the rain, hoping to keep much of the equipment dry, though all was completely covered in sand. Of course it started to rain just as I was finishing up. Got out to the beach at 7:15 and, just like Robinson […]
Day 2
Sep 2 day 2 Twilight beach campground to free camp 35 km 7:00- 3:30 Day started out beautifully, clear sky, sun, not to hot. Up and over Scott’s point, then down onto 90 Mile beach (which is more like 85 km beach). Hiked almost entire day without seeing a sign of anyone. Sand was firm, […]
Day 1
Sep 1. Day 1 Cape Reinga to Twilight Beach campground 12 Km 1:00-4:00 Cape Reinga is the Springer Mountain of the TA. There is no public transport from Kaitaia up Highway 1 to the cape, the northernmost point in NZ, so I negotiated a trip with a tour group who were driving up the highway […]
Animals
Animals Pacific Crest Trail, August 2015 One of the first things to strike you on the northernmost part of the PCT is a pervasive silence. The forests breathes, but the birds and squirrels generally don’t chatter (except in Canada; Canadian squirrels make a racket!). It’s like being in a pre-Internet library. Not to say there […]
Foliage
Foliage (Pacific Crest Trail, August, 2015) Starting out, the plants are two–Douglas Fir and blueberries. The ancient trees loom. They have dominion. But the blueberries proliferate, and they are flavor. Their bushes vary in size and color, as do the berries. The ones with red leaves growing close to the ground seem always to give […]