Day 109, Arthurs Pass Village to Hamilton Hut (2252)
It was a lovely morning as I left the hostel with a plan to try to get a lift down the road.
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| Arthurs Pass Village |
The weather forecast is good for the next three days but then there is a storm on Sunday that could drop 200mm of rain! I'll try to be past the river sections by then.
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| Painted locomotive shed at Arthurs Pass |
It was a complete failure, hardly any traffic and what little there was wasn't interested in giving me a lift.
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| Road bridge over the Boyle River |
As I got closer to my turn off I just settled into the walk ignoring the increasing traffic.
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| Pine Forest |
I was quite happy to get off the road and onto the track even though it was uphill.
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| View over the Boyle River to the Southern Alps |
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| The A frame hut |
The path climbed up through beech woods and then a section of pine forest, which was very different, before an open section with fantastic views of the Southern Alps over the Bealey River.
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| Path by the river |
I then started the descent of the Harper Valley which has a good two bed A frame hut near the top.
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| Scree slope to negotiate |
The path was relatively easy but there were some sections of scree, one of which I descended gracelessly on my bum.
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| Nice path at this point |
Only one river crossing and a couple of side streams to cool my feet before I reached the West Harper Hut where I had thought of staying until I saw the state of it. Built in 1956 and little maintenance since by the look of it.
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| Footbridge over the Harper River |
I saw a feral cat on the path ahead at one stage but it didn't stay long when it saw me.
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| Hamilton Hut |
The path then climbed over various spurs to avoid some river gorges before crossing on a suspension bridge to reach Hamilton Creek where there is another bridge and a short path to Hamilton Hut.
Thirty kilometers today but it felt like more, too much road.
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