Tuesday, 27 January 2026

Te Araroa 23/01/26

Day 124, Lake Middleton to Ahururi River East Branch (2552)

It rained for a while last night but it had stopped by morning although the clouds were low and black.

Lake Ohau
The weather forecast was for rain today but the cloud lifted and it turned into a beautiful day.
Climbing away from Lake Ohau 
The trail followed the lake shore for a while before heading for the hills and climbing up to the Freehold Creek and following it all the way up to some swampy ground at 1400 meters .
Stream crossing with dry feet 
For a change the path stayed clear of the river and my feet stayed dry until the top.

Looking back to the lake from above the treeline 
There were a couple of river crossings on the way down until I reached the wide valley and some great walking on the dry stony ground.
Back to the river crossings
I met a few people coming the other way who had all successfully crossed the Ahuriri River so I'm more hopeful for tomorrow's crossing than I had been.
Steep scree and water crossings
The sky was getting darker as I approached my proposed campsite and I hoped that I would have time to get the tent up and dried before anything happened.

Down to flatter ground 
I found a nice spot and got the tent pitched and it didn't take too long to dry so I could get everything sorted inside.
There must be somewhere to camp down here

About ten minutes later there were some big spots of rain which was the start of a thunderstorm. I hope it doesn't put the river up too much.


No comments: