Woke up to sunshine, but of course everything was soaked from the rain yesterday. I planned to make it to the Locke stream hut, which is 24k, the trail notes estimate it’s 4 hours to the first hut and another 6 to Locke Stream hut.
In the first 10k there’s a hot pool that I was very excited about, being there in the rain sounded like an awesome way to warm up, but sun is fine too as long as it’s not too hot.
Holger said he might stay at the hut only 10k away and do some fishing, so I left early.
After a little more than two hours of hiking I checked the GPS and I was just around the corner from the hut. Somehow I completely missed the hot pool 😞
I had an early lunch at the first hut, tried to dry out my shoes, kind of pointless with all the mud but good to at least let my feet breathe.
The next section was a pain, it actually took me six hours. There were many spots where he trail were washed out, probably from the flood in December, some of them downright sketchy. One part in particular that I disliked had only about a foot of trail left with a drop of about 30 feet on the right side and the trail actually hung over the drop, there was a less dramatic drop on the right which at least had some small trees. I should have taken a picture.
I got to the hut just before six and met up with Ocean, Stefan, Katie and Georgia.
The hut was full of rat shit, in the corners, under the bunks. It’s no surprise that someone saw a rat before we went to bed. In the middle of the night I dropped my pillow between the beds and it fell on the floor…. I think I need a new pillow.