Day 44 - Stonny Hut to Campspot of Choice

Wietse and I left Stonny hut by 9am, and by 9:05am we were crossing yet another knee deep stream. We had another 1000 meter accent today over Stag saddle, the highest point on the TA (just under 2000 meters). It was an easy 2 hour walk to Royal hut before starting our climb, and though are feet were already soaked we still had multiple crossings, and a hike through a swamp before even reaching any sort of elevation gain. It was a sunny day with partial clouds, and we heard about an alternate route off the saddle that followed the adjacent ridge line, but it was unmarked, making visibility the deciding factor.

After our hard climb, over many false peaks, we eventually made it to the top of the saddle. We were happy to find signal at the top and I used every bit of data I had left on my phone to facetime my love back home. It's been a long journey, and she's probably on my mind the most, so any chance to talk with her will always brighten up my day. Quite literally in many ways, as the clouds had parted after our talk and it was sun shine all around. So without hesitation Wietse and I took the ridge line route. We climbed over many loose rocks before finding any sort of trail that we could follow, and after climbing a little bit more we reached the top of the ridge. We both stopped in our tracks when we saw the view. Lake Takepo and it's baby blue Lake could be seen to the south with a flow of braided rivers leading our attention to another set of mountains that we couldn't see from the saddle. Mount Cook - New Zealand's tallest Mountain - could be seen high above the rest, surrounded by the icy southern alps. It took Wietse and I a long while to hike down off the ridge line. We were hardly hiking at times and instead basking in arguably the best views we've had over the last 43 days.

We reached royal hut by 6pm, but even though I was ready to stop for the day, Wietse convinced me to continue for another 5km and camp, shortening tomorrow's 35km hike into Tekapo. So we continued, rushing to find camp before we lost all remaining light. Not only did we need to find flat ground, but it also needed to be near a water source. We followed a stream for most of the way before climbing a very steep hill. We followed the path past a small running stream, and I spotted a camp spot that practically sang to me. It wasn't hard to convince Wietse to stop here, and we both hurried to set up our tents and cook dinner before all was dark. This camp spot would be up there for my favorite yet on my journey, and with no wind and no clouds I was a happy camper. Wietse and I enjoyed a bit of vodka on a large hill overlooking the valley and the setting sun, and we talked about how perfect the day turned out to be. Another one of my favorite days on Te Araroa.