Day 26 – Hamilton to the Pahautea hut

I took a local bus from Hamilton to Whatawhata and started road walking to the Pirongia Forest. I wanted to make it to the top before the next storm system came through so maybe I could take some sunset shots or maybe even stars, but it’s 30km and almost 1k meters of gain, which is possible in day but kind of pushing it. Out of nowhere a guy pulls over and asks if I’m a TA walker and tells me they are and are headed to the trailhead if I wanted a ride… well yes please! It turns out he is hiking the trail but since he lives in Raglan he’s already done that section, so he was giving 2 people that he met on the trail a ride.

All of a sudden my huge day became a short day. I hiked with the couple I got a ride with for a while, then I ran into Kate who I had met before maybe a week ago and we hiked the rest. Near the top was muddy and overgrown so rather slow hiking, but there are good views along the ridge. There’s a hut just after the top called the Pahautea hut, which is really nice. Sunset wasn’t what I was hoping for, but was still very nice.