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NZ First Hike–a Doozie! (Tues, Feb 9)
After a wonderful breakfast, I headed outside to get a picture of the “Sheep Shearer’s Lodge” where we’re staying (very comfy!). And I did some testing with a graduated filter I’d brought along. That allowed me to get a picture of Mount Cook in the morning where the bright sky wasn’t washed out. I actually have learned a little about photographic techniques!
Then it was on the bus for a trip to the Mount Cook hike, in Hookers Pass. The short and sweet story of this hike is that it was lots of steps. It wasn’t just walking up a trail, which is tough enough. Think climbing on a Stairmaster for a couple of hours, with a day pack (and heavy camera), and irregular steps. They told us to just take it slow, to go at our own pace. I’ll just say right here that my pace is usually the slowest one in the group, (right or wrong, I blame it on short legs) and I was certainly toward the end for most of the hike, which involved an elevation gain of 400 meters, or a little over 1,300 feet. Whew!
As tough as that was, there was then the hike back down. While you generally go faster on the way down, going down for all those steps (and they’re not all even heights or shapes, folks) turned my legs into rubber. Here’s where resting didn’t do a whole lot of good, but it helped some. At one point, though, one of my knees didn’t hold me after a step and I went down on knees, then forearms, then belly; and then I slid in the loose rocks. I’m sure it would have been funny in some sense, but the folks with me were probably a bit nervous about how everything was hanging together. The answer was, very well, thank you. I was grateful the slide wasn’t too far; it could have happened in worse places, where sliding could have been a lot more serious.
As it was, all’s well that ends well. Katie (tour guide extrordinaire) helped me clean up (dust all over, and some scratches). My water was all gone at this point, so she gave me some more, and then she took my pack to carry. I certainly appreciated the good care she took of me!
You can get an idea from the pictures of the landscape and the height. In the last picture, the kind of oval structure towards the bottom left is where we started from–the car park. I, and several of my compatriots, were very, very happy to get back to Bruce!
Diana was one of three who made it all the way up the second section of the hike, the next 400 meters after the steps stopped. More power to her! Our hiking experience and pace are obviously very different so I don’t anticipate being hiking buddies, but that’s OK. We’re all in this together on this tour, so we’ll all have a great time…at our own pace. It’s nice to meet up at the end.
Tomorrow is a travel day again, to get down to Queenstown and the area on the South Island where we’ll be doing more of our activities. I have to admit I’m feeling pretty grateful for a sort-of day of rest after today’s exertions!
I think I’ll have WiFi access tomorrow night, so I hope to get this on the blog, as well as check email. I really haven’t minded being off the grid for a couple of days, but I’m also looking forward to seeing what’s up in the world. Haven’t heard anything about the New Hampshire primaries, for instance. But there’s a time for everything, and tonight’s going to be a good night for sleeping, I can tell!
