Te Araroa Trail – Day 137

Saturday March 23, 2024
Distance/ Total: 16.4 km / 10.2 mi

Shaun and I tried to get an early start, but with 4 people sleeping on the floor there was no room for us to get our gear together. We finally cleared off the upper bunk and asked one of the hikers on the floor to move up so we could get our gear together. After getting everything together we had to ask another hiker to move to the other bunk so we could get out the door. We were pretty packed in.

With all the shuffling it was about 8:20 before we got on trail. The trail started with a short ascent on the same sloppy muddy trails we had yesterday. The trail then began descending downward out of the mountains. It was a total of 10.2 kilometers of mud tramping that really sucked the fun out of the day. It took us about 6 hours to make our way down to the car park at the bottom of the trail. We were both covered in mud to our knees and had mud packed into our shoes and socks.

We barely beat the rain down the mountain it started raining on us as we neared the car park. We stopped at a stream and cleaned the mud off us the best we could as the rain began coming down.

After cleaning up we headed back down the trail which was a short walk down a gravel road to highway 99 and another road walk with no shoulder. Now that we were out of the trees a cold wind was blowing as we trudged on in the rain for about 6 kilometers to Colac Bay Tavern and Holiday Park.

First order of business was to get some food and a beer. I’m hungry all the time now. Talking to other hikers there we were convinced to call it a day and stay at the Holiday Park behind the tavern. No more walking in the cold rain today.

We checked into a room at the park, showered, and washed our muddy clothes planning for a better day tomorrow.