I woke up much much less sore than I expected, but crazy tired. Thinking my hike was only 21 km I lounged in my hammock a bit. I took my sweet time. Eventually I got up and packed and started hiking around 9:30.
I left the old forest and entered a much younger one that had been logged years ago. At first I wasn’t crazy about it, preferring the giant old trees, but after a while I started to appreciate its distinct beauty.
When I got to the mile marker where I thought the next camp should be, I was very unhappy to learn that it was considerably further. The notes say 21 to #10 camp then 17 km to the end of the trail for a total of 42 km.
Anyway when I got to #10 camp, which was an old logging camp, it was basically a small clearing in the brush with a bathroom and a little shelter, all of it in the hot sun. I couldn’t find anywhere to set up my hammock so I decided to keep hiking. I got to another spot that one of the apps said might have a spot but there wasn’t enough space. At that point I was only 10km from the end, so I said to hell with it, I’ll just finish tonight then when I get to the next town take a zero (which I think I need to do either way to plan the next section).
I made it just before sunset! Km 1006, which doesn’t mean much because I skipped Auckland to Hamilton. Another 42 km day… I didn’t think I’d be able to do that much!