Te Araroa 26/12/25

Day 96, Upper Travers Hut to Blue Lake Hut (2038)

It rained heavily all night but eased in the morning and the forecast that someone got via satellite wasn't too bad so we all headed up to the Pass.

Morning view

The rain had stopped by the time I got to the Travers Saddle, 1787 meters, but it was very cold and windy and the cloud was low giving limited views.

Slowly clearing

Heading for the Travers Saddle 

The climb up was relatively easy but I wasn't looking forward to the 1000m descent as my shoes were rather worn and with all the rain, extremely slippery.

Marker at the Travers Saddle 

View down from Travers Saddle 

It turned out to be easier than I expected, only slipped once before I was into the trees and sheltered from the wind.

Typical river crossing

I got to the West Sabine Hut for lunch and read in the book that SJ, Di, Ruby and Peter had retreated from the hills and were getting out and going to Hamner Springs.

Walking through the woods 

I had planned to stop here but as it was earlier than expected I continued on up the river to the next hut.

Yet more river crossings

There were some great views of the mountains in the cloud, another lovely walk even though it did start to rain again in the afternoon.

Shelter stone 

I found a huge rock to shelter under and get some warm clothes on before continuing to the Blue Lake Hut.

And another 

The river was a raging torrent and the side streams were quite interesting to cross, no chance of keeping my feet dry even if they hadn't been wet already.

View from Blue Lake Hut 

There were a lot of people at the hut already as they had waited for better weather before attempting the next pass.

The Blue Lake looking green!

A cosy night with twenty two people in a sixteen bed hut.

Rather crowded in the Blue Lake Hut