I went on a tramp this weekend. Tramping is basically the equivalent of hiking in New Zealand, but a bit more extreme than what I'm used to in (flat) Minnesota. I went with Caitlin and we had a trip leader named Sara, and her fiancé Will was with us for part of the time. Sara is from upstate New York so it was comforting to listen to an American accent for the weekend!
Tramping is quite common here - understandable seeing as it's a beautiful and mountainous country. Caitlin and I both received an email from tramping club offering up spots on a tramp to Silverpeaks this weekend. We attended the pre-tramp meeting, heard four different route options, and decided to tackle option 3 (the longest route, but deemed "easy"). Caitlin and I were the only two members of the club to sign up for this route! That turned out to be a blessing because we could go at our own pace.
Sara, Will, Caitlin and I met up on campus at 8:15 am Saturday morning. We were dropped off after a short drive at the start of a route called Pineapple Track, and we started our ascent by 8:50 am. They say you can experience all four seasons in a day in New Zealand which would be funny if it weren't so true. We started out with a fair amount of sunshine. Within 20 minutes it was hailing, so the rain coats we had just taken off went right back on. I'll spare you the play-by-play, but before lunch we'd experienced sun, hail, snow, rain, sleet and dense fog. Good thing we all had nice waterproof jackets!
We stopped for lunch in a little clearing as it appeared to be quite dry and it wasn't raining. Caitlin and I set out our gloves on a bush to dry. Within about two minutes the rain had started again so that was a flop, but thankfully rain doesn't change the taste of a PBJ! Soon we were off again.
A few hours later, Will ended up turning back because he hurt his hip flexor a few weeks back running a 100 mile race (yes, by choice). All the ups and downs of the hills weren't making it feel any better. So, the three of us divided up the supplies we needed from his pack and set off again. It was a bummer to see him go, but it was good of him to listen to his body!
After a few more hours of tramping, we could finally see a hut in the distance. The original plan was to sleep under a tent fly (think tent but with no walls, just a roof), but since there were only three of us we decided we could sleep in Jubilee Hut. This is not my picture, but it shows you what the hut looks like. No running water, no electricity, but four walls and a roof to protect us from the elements!!
Tramping is quite common here - understandable seeing as it's a beautiful and mountainous country. Caitlin and I both received an email from tramping club offering up spots on a tramp to Silverpeaks this weekend. We attended the pre-tramp meeting, heard four different route options, and decided to tackle option 3 (the longest route, but deemed "easy"). Caitlin and I were the only two members of the club to sign up for this route! That turned out to be a blessing because we could go at our own pace.
Sara, Will, Caitlin and I met up on campus at 8:15 am Saturday morning. We were dropped off after a short drive at the start of a route called Pineapple Track, and we started our ascent by 8:50 am. They say you can experience all four seasons in a day in New Zealand which would be funny if it weren't so true. We started out with a fair amount of sunshine. Within 20 minutes it was hailing, so the rain coats we had just taken off went right back on. I'll spare you the play-by-play, but before lunch we'd experienced sun, hail, snow, rain, sleet and dense fog. Good thing we all had nice waterproof jackets!
We stopped for lunch in a little clearing as it appeared to be quite dry and it wasn't raining. Caitlin and I set out our gloves on a bush to dry. Within about two minutes the rain had started again so that was a flop, but thankfully rain doesn't change the taste of a PBJ! Soon we were off again.
A few hours later, Will ended up turning back because he hurt his hip flexor a few weeks back running a 100 mile race (yes, by choice). All the ups and downs of the hills weren't making it feel any better. So, the three of us divided up the supplies we needed from his pack and set off again. It was a bummer to see him go, but it was good of him to listen to his body!
After a few more hours of tramping, we could finally see a hut in the distance. The original plan was to sleep under a tent fly (think tent but with no walls, just a roof), but since there were only three of us we decided we could sleep in Jubilee Hut. This is not my picture, but it shows you what the hut looks like. No running water, no electricity, but four walls and a roof to protect us from the elements!!
Unfortunately, just because we could see it didn't mean we were all that close. We still had a few hours of walking (so much uphill!!) and then we had to walk down Devil's Staircase. If the name is any indication, it was pretty challenging. Down always seems a bit easier in theory, but after all the precipitation the clay-y soil was pretty mucky and slippery. Each of us fell over a few times but no one got any major injuries. We ended up making it to the hut at 5:18 pm. We beat the sunset! After all the breaks, it probably took 7 or 7.5 hours of walking to reach the hut.
After taking off my soaking wet boots, two pairs of (soaked) wool socks, (soaked) outer pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, I slowly began drying out. We had black bean, red capsicum (NZ word for pepper), onion and cumin and cheese tacos for dinner. It felt great to eat something warm and spicy after being damp for so long. We also had some Milo (NZ hot cocoa) and I did my first Tim Tam Slam! It felt great to sit down and eat, but it was hard to motivate ourselves to stand up again after dinner! My legs were pretty sore and my knee was hurting a bit. I guess that's not too surprising after such a big day.
After dinner, Sara went to meet with other route leaders to discuss Sunday's plans. It was decided that the three of us would leave around 7:30 am, and take part of the route we took on Saturday back to a car park near where we separated from Will. The good news: it's the shortest route out of the area. The bad news: we had to go back on Devil's Staircase, this time going up.
Sleeping arrangements were pretty nice in the hut. There were two wood pallets, each with five twin-size mattresses. Caitlin and I rolled out our sleeping bags and settled in our bags by about 7:30 pm. Early, but a great way to get warm! I wore my driest pair of leggings, two pairs of wool socks, a thermal long sleeve T-shirt and gloves to bed with a sweatshirt as my pillow and my sleeping bag zipped and cinched around me as close as it would go. I fell asleep shortly after 9pm and woke up every few hours because my hips were hurting, but I stayed warm enough.
The next morning, we woke up around 7, ate some oatmeal and were out of the hut by 7:45. After a very long trek up Devil's Staircase, and through the rest of the route, we made it to the car by 12:20 or so. It was hard to tramp a second day after being so tired from Saturday, but a warm shower was good motivation to keep on moving.
I'm thankful that I packed pretty well. Four pairs of wool socks felt like overkill for a two day tramp, but I wore every pair. I had six layers of shirts on today (2 thermals, 2 sweatshirts, a jacket, and a rain jacket). It seems a bit excessive, but I was happy to be warm. My boots aren't waterproof and that was definitely a problem for this tramp, but I'm glad it was only two days so that I wasn't uncomfortable for too long. It's hard to figure these things out until you get out there and experience what works and what doesn't! I also don't have an inner bag liner so I threw everything into plastic bags. This was beneficial for today's tramp, so I could throw my still-wet socks and leggings from Saturday into a plastic bag and forget about them in my pack.
My fitbit tells me that I walked 41,242 steps and 17.45 miles on Saturday, then 23,428 steps and 9.91 miles today (Sunday). That's a total of 27 miles or 45 km! After I got back to my flat I took a quick shower, put on some sweatpants, and promptly hopped in bed. My legs are quite sore so I'm sort of waddling instead of walking which is pretty embarrassing! It feels good to stay inactive. My hamstrings and quadriceps are sore and my knees and ankles feel pretty uncomfortable after all the hills, so walking up and down the stairs in my flat is no small feat. Walking to class tomorrow is going to be a challenge :)
Speaking of classes, I only have three more weeks of class and then it's finals! The semester is really flying by. I have less than two months here now - pretty weird to think about.
After taking off my soaking wet boots, two pairs of (soaked) wool socks, (soaked) outer pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, I slowly began drying out. We had black bean, red capsicum (NZ word for pepper), onion and cumin and cheese tacos for dinner. It felt great to eat something warm and spicy after being damp for so long. We also had some Milo (NZ hot cocoa) and I did my first Tim Tam Slam! It felt great to sit down and eat, but it was hard to motivate ourselves to stand up again after dinner! My legs were pretty sore and my knee was hurting a bit. I guess that's not too surprising after such a big day.
After dinner, Sara went to meet with other route leaders to discuss Sunday's plans. It was decided that the three of us would leave around 7:30 am, and take part of the route we took on Saturday back to a car park near where we separated from Will. The good news: it's the shortest route out of the area. The bad news: we had to go back on Devil's Staircase, this time going up.
Sleeping arrangements were pretty nice in the hut. There were two wood pallets, each with five twin-size mattresses. Caitlin and I rolled out our sleeping bags and settled in our bags by about 7:30 pm. Early, but a great way to get warm! I wore my driest pair of leggings, two pairs of wool socks, a thermal long sleeve T-shirt and gloves to bed with a sweatshirt as my pillow and my sleeping bag zipped and cinched around me as close as it would go. I fell asleep shortly after 9pm and woke up every few hours because my hips were hurting, but I stayed warm enough.
The next morning, we woke up around 7, ate some oatmeal and were out of the hut by 7:45. After a very long trek up Devil's Staircase, and through the rest of the route, we made it to the car by 12:20 or so. It was hard to tramp a second day after being so tired from Saturday, but a warm shower was good motivation to keep on moving.
I'm thankful that I packed pretty well. Four pairs of wool socks felt like overkill for a two day tramp, but I wore every pair. I had six layers of shirts on today (2 thermals, 2 sweatshirts, a jacket, and a rain jacket). It seems a bit excessive, but I was happy to be warm. My boots aren't waterproof and that was definitely a problem for this tramp, but I'm glad it was only two days so that I wasn't uncomfortable for too long. It's hard to figure these things out until you get out there and experience what works and what doesn't! I also don't have an inner bag liner so I threw everything into plastic bags. This was beneficial for today's tramp, so I could throw my still-wet socks and leggings from Saturday into a plastic bag and forget about them in my pack.
My fitbit tells me that I walked 41,242 steps and 17.45 miles on Saturday, then 23,428 steps and 9.91 miles today (Sunday). That's a total of 27 miles or 45 km! After I got back to my flat I took a quick shower, put on some sweatpants, and promptly hopped in bed. My legs are quite sore so I'm sort of waddling instead of walking which is pretty embarrassing! It feels good to stay inactive. My hamstrings and quadriceps are sore and my knees and ankles feel pretty uncomfortable after all the hills, so walking up and down the stairs in my flat is no small feat. Walking to class tomorrow is going to be a challenge :)
Speaking of classes, I only have three more weeks of class and then it's finals! The semester is really flying by. I have less than two months here now - pretty weird to think about.