Day 9 - Captain Creek Hut to Rocks Hut

There was no rush today for Kat and I other than the fact that it wasn't raining and we knew it was in the forcast. We hit the trail by 10am - again - and after crossing three single person wire bridges we made it to Middy Hut, our half way point for the day. We stopped for lunch and when we got back on the trail the rain had started. It was a 2500 ft climb to our final destination, and for the last 3 hours of the day we were pushing physical exhaustion. The trail was covered in pissed off wasps which were feeding off large trees covered in black fungus. Sometimes their would be two trees side by side with the trail running in between. The only way to make it through was to sprint as fast as you could and hope for the best. Luckily neither of us got stung and we made it to Rocks hut by 3pm.

There was one person already at the hut, a french man named Vincent. He wasn't actually there when we arrive, but his gear was. He wrote in the hut book that he went looking for the "Monster Mine". An abandoned mine shaft deep in the forest. It wasn't long before he came back. Unfortunately, he didn't find any monsters, but he did find the mine. He said their wasn't much to see. Vincent was an extremely interesting man. He studied plants. He wasnt just hiking the TA, but also creating a map of all the edible plants along the trail that he made free to the public. Vincent took me outside and while teaching me about the native flora he quickly jumped into the bush saying "Dwarven Nettle!". Vincent had been looking for this for quite some time, apparently. He spun it in his hands - ignoring its prickly thorns - and once it was a ball, began to eat it. "very rare, and high in vitamin C" he told me.

Within a few hours two more solo TA hikers joined us. One guy was Justin - yet again he showed up to the hut half naked and full of sweat - and the other guy was Dan. We all talked about the ridiculous amount of food we were carrying and what each person had for meals. Vincent actually made bread with Flower, sugar, yeast - and who knows what else - and shared it with everyone. Dan brought out wine, and Justin shared some apples. It was a very friendly experience with some new TA hiker friends. I could tell Kat was a bit sad to be finishing her TA tomorrow, but I knew she was ready. She completed the South Island, a feet I'll be working towards for the next 2 months. It's been an absolute pleasure getting to hike with her over the past week. We've created an amazing friendship that will last much longer than the TA. I hope she found what she was looking for out here, actually, I know she did. You're all set Kat, congratulations. See you in Winnipeg!