In the night I was woken up to a mouse eating the candy bar I put in my backpack side pocket for the next day, I put all my bars inside my pack, but every time I heard a noise I thought it might be the mouse getting into something.
In the morning a Swiss NOBO (Northbound, the first NOBOs I’d met) couple decided to make a fire in the hut at 4:30 AM, waking everyone up. On the plus side sunrise was spectacular! Clouds were hanging out in the valleys, making for excellent undercast conditions.
Even though I was up early I didn’t start hiking until 7:30, having not slept well the night before I was lacking motivation, and it was really cold.
When I did get moving the sights were amazing. I went through a cloud for a half hour, but it cleared again after that.
When I got to the trail junction for the old man hut I had a light lunch before heading into the next section which I’d read was really tough. Going up the first of the two Rintoul mountains I was thinking it wasn’t bad, but then I started descending between the two and I see what they were talking about, the grade was really steep and it was all shale which slid away under your feet. It was extremely slow going.
The second mountain wasn’t as bad, but was also a steep descent to the Rintoul hut. There I ran into a group I hadn’t seen since the Tararuas and DOC (department of conservation) had left a box of small plums for TA hikers. I ate three and grabbed a couple for the road.
The next section had a couple ups and downs, but was mostly easy. I made it to the hut around 5 and to my surprise was the first one there, although it ended up being totally full and four people in tents.
The tarn was great, I went for a quick swim and rinsed my clothes before dinner.
