Rimutaka Death March 2008

A friend of ours here in "the Hutt" (the local's name for anything in the Hutt Valley on the East side of the Wellington Harbour) invited me and the boy on an overnight tramping trip.  Most of this invitation was actually done through my wife and his wife as his boy and my boy are friends at school.  After several months here, I have quickly determined that my definition of "easy tramping" and the Kiwi defnition of "easy tramping" are not equivalent.  Even after several months of Kiwi-living, I remain a mostly round American.  Soooo, instantly suspicious, I verified how hard this trip might be with Aaron (the friend and organiser).

"So, how many kilometers is this hike?"

"Oh maybe 1 and quarter.  It's pretty easy.  We'll go Friday after work and be at the hut before dark."  (This time "hut" means cabin.)

"Oh, well that's easy.  Sure we'll go."

It was then with some stress that I discovered in the parking lot of the Rimutaka Forest trailhead that it was, in fact, 3.5 kilometers and that what Aaron meant was 1 and quarter hours of walking one-way.  Gabe and I are each carrying pretty full and not insignificantly weighted backpacks... I thought to myself that perhaps 3.5 km won't be too bad.

While no one was permanently injured, it was 3.5 km all up hill except for the very end where the trail dropped sharply to a river valley.  We had to wade across the river which was icy cold.  It was getting dark and after crossing the river we were confronted with a wide rocky washout that would have to be navigated (quickly) in order to get to the other side where we *thought* the hut was.  No one was really sure at this point.  Another dad/kid combo had come with us (total party of six now, 3 dads / 3 kids) and Chris was all Kiwi.  By this I mean he walks through thorny trails, up mountains, while barefoot on a weekly, if not daily, basis.  The pace he set was grueling.  So as we scrambled over rocks and deadfall trees in rapidly sinking darkness we were also "heaps puffed" (tired) and a little confused.

Luckily we guessed right and we found the hut just as it got dark.  We proceeded to quickly get a fire going for heat and then Aaron cooked up all the stuff we hauled in.  We had a "sizzle" (cooked sausages), canned spagetti, heaps of junk food and some coke and bourbon (for the dads).  It was pretty nice.  The kids were bonkers and had latched on to perpetually singing the same song about farting and barfing over and over.  That proved difficult to stop.  Eventually they passed out.

I managed to have a nice smoke of the pipe while looking at the amazing stars.  The area we were in is very remote (as is everything about 5 minutes outside of town in NZ).  There are no cities surrounding us and the stars are so clear and so abundant that I can't spot the constellations anymore.  They are lost in the background.  The Milky Way is huge and stunning.

We wanted to be back before noon on Saturday.  That meant a pretty fast trot out of park.  We were all much lighter having eaten most of the food, but even so we (at least Gabe and I) were tired.  Poor Gabe must have fallen like 5 times, but he carried his pack all the way out.  He was the only kid that did.  Which was good, cuz my legs were jello after we hit the parking lot.  Moving for the next 3 days was a quiet symphany of "ouches" and "umphs".

Of course the scenery was amazing.  But just for the record... a "easy" Kiwi trail assumes you about 22 years old (strong, long limbed, and quickly healed), sober, and in full possession of all limbs.  These trails may be 40% grade at times, skirt along dramatic drop offs (no hand rails), narrow to only 12" wide (with drop offs), require wading through river(s), and cross over rough terrain (like rock jumbles, fallen trees, and small crevasses).  I have no idea what a "hard" trail would be like, but I suspect it might involve lava, waterfalls, and deadly pygmies.

Check out my Photos for all the pics.  Love y'all.  Can't wait to see you all again!