Unlike Kevin, we did get up at 5AM to watch the sunset from Castle Rocks, but it was still pretty from the relative warmth of the hut.
The sleeping arrangements.
The kitchen area, as it was.
Me rocking the wool socks and Birkenstocks look by the stove. I had found these super warm Smartwool Socks at the previous shelter. They were clean, too, and still smelled like laundry detergent. Pretty nice!
The hut as we left that morning.
And back up the same rooty trail as before.
Today we planned to be much shorter, only around 10km or so. We planned to hike back up to the Evans Ridge that we hiked down from to get to Castle Rocks, and then along the ridge, eventually cutting down into the Wanui River Valley. A short day, but we wanted to get to the Wanui Hut early enough to ensure we got a bunk, as it only has 4. (We didn't have to worry, really, we were the only ones there all night.)
This is the northern end of Moa Park. It's very reminiscent of the Gouland Downs on the Heaphy, and the only section of Abel we saw like that.
In the middle of Moa Park is a side trail leading to Porters Rock, the highest point on our hike at around 1050m above sea level. It was by far the most sweeping views of the area we've seen so far.
I love it when you can see mountains beyond mountains; not just the ranges border Nelson, but the peaks in the middle of those ranges, as well.
Along the ridge line I was followed by this guy:
Wekas are not shy at all.
As you can see, the Weka got within about 5 feet of me, and didn't startle at all when I moved. Only when I would yell or move towards it would it run away. But if followed pretty close for half a mile, and was joined by a few of its friends along the way. Only when we started down the mountain did it stop.
We arrive at the Wanui hut just after noon. Through out almost all of our journeys so far, whenever we reach our goal this early in the day, we would set a new goal and push on. Just this once, we decided, we would try just staying put, relaxing, and not pushing ourselves.
It was a lovely decision. We spent the rest of the day lounging by the Wanui River. This is the same river that feeds the Wanui Falls we visited earlier, at this point only a small stream bed.
We don't often take time to simply do nothing, and this was nice. We napped, collected firewood for the great fireplace in the hut, read the paper and some books (on kindles/smartphones), ate a relaxed dinner, and just generally enjoyed ourselves.
Even though the backcountry trails aren't as nice as the more maintained trails, the backcountry huts are lovely. They seem like often they are very rudimentary, but are quaint, sturdy, and after sleeping in tents in almost every backpacking trip I've done for the last 5 years, are quite nice compared to going to bed and waking up in a cold wet tent. They're also only $5 a night, which is a bargain after paying $14 a night per person to camp on the Heaphy Track.
The next day, we plan to hike back to Takaka, so to bed early, with a fire ready to light against the morning chill.
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