Today- 21.5km from John Tait hut to Blue lake hut

Total – 1980.3

Big day today, about 11hours of walking , not that the kilometers reflect the terrain or elevation!

Just kept walking today, at a nice leisurely pace and even did 3hours more than originally planned.

Started at John Tait hut this morn and travelled up the Travers valley towards Upper Travers hut, a lovely modern hut in a spectacular setting.

En route I checked out the Travers waterfall, definately worth the 2 min detour!

After some snacks at upper trav, it was time to get cracking up a climb to Travers Saddle.

Nicely marked and graded then some boulder and tussock scrambling and then there were stunning views all around.

Alot of people are out here tramping the Travers-Sabine circuit, a 5-6 day affair, epic tramping.

The views from the saddle were unreal. This trampling reminds me a lot of the Canadian Rockies.

A big long steep descent had my knees swearing but I just chipped away slow and steady and made it to the West Sabine hut at around 3ish, my planned destination for the day.

I

had been toying with the idea of continuing on to Blue Lake in order to get over Waiau Pass before any shifty weather came in, but also didn’t want to push it.

I decided to have a good break, shoes off, relax then decided to keep on, and just go really slow if need be.

But my energy levels were the best they had been all day, I cruised a few hours and really enjoyed this section.

There was lots of places the track goes through avalanche paths and in one area huge amounts of debris covered the track.

It’s awesome tramping next to the river and the late afternoon light coming through the beech forest made for a pleasant scene.

The track winds it’s way through forest and up the river vary, climbing steeply in places till it spits you out at Blue Lake hut.

I

was stoked to get a bunk, lots of people had opted to camp, and also happy to catch up with Marion &Francois, two hikers I last trampe with in the Tararua Ranges.

After a good catchup , dinner and checking out the Blue Lake [ clearest water in the world !] Its a solid snooze sesh before a huge day going up and over Waiau Pass tommorrow.

So many good views today, so lots of pics!