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Published: March 20th 2009
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Thursday March 19, 2009
“In Mother Nature… there’s such a clearing of the air after a rampage that she may go off whistling to herself, all settled down, ready for dinner and a good sleep.”
“The Water of Life” by Michael Meade
And so it goes. All that was crappy yesterday is wondrous today. As I sit in the van talking to Carla (on the phone, thought I do swear I hear her at other times) a tiny bird lands on the windshield wiper not more that a foot from me. Today I plan to walk so after breakfast I pack up and head for the Hooker Valley. There is a 3 hour walk here well worth the effort. During the 20-minute drive I start to develop severe stomach cramps. I hadn’t mentioned it but I am taking medication for some kind of problem. By the time I arrive at the trail head all is less than well. After trying to walk it off I know there is only one solution, details not necessary. Feeling a little better the best thing is just to take a nap. Three hours later I am feeling as good as I had previously felt bad.
Mt Cook
view from the lake Now 3:00 there is still plenty of time for the walk. The trail is well maintained and gradual in most places. The views are such that I could easily take you step by step. There are two swinging bridges, a potty stop for those in need and a great reward at the end. The view is of Mt. Cook and the glacier and lake at the base. Multiple streams careen down the mountainsides. In an effort to get the perfect photo I try to cross one sizeable fast flowing stream. Walking beside it up a field of boulders, after several hundred yards it becomes obvious that this is an undertaking that was not meant to be. Standing beside the glacial lake I am overwhelmed by the beauty and grandness of this experience. I have take well over 100 photos but not a single one can capture the feeling. Breaking the spell I realize I need to head back. As I descend the trail around 5:00 there are still people ascending. I didn’t mention that there is a pretty stiff wind and I have on a pullover and a jacket. Some of these adventurers, having donned nothing more than a t-shirt
and shorts, have a wild look that says they must do this before dark. As I near the bottom some of these same folks come streaming by me having decided they were not up to the challenge. At the bottom I stop to view the memorial covered with plaques commemorating the climbers that have lost their life here. It is a solemn moment yet as many of the memorials state, they died doing something they loved. I will be that lucky!
Friday March 20, 2009
“…And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make” Paul McCartney
After waking up this morning to a sunrise view of Mt. Cook I started reflecting on my New Zealand adventure. I wrote, “What will I take away?” I once thought McCartney’s phrasing and choice of words a little odd. I now realize the importance of their being action verbs. One thing I know I’ll take is the intention to approach each day with wide-eyed optimism. Finding good where I otherwise might have seen something less. MASSIVE! an adjective I hear frequently here. For the past 18 hours I have been in the presence of something massive.
The Hermitage, site of the early base camps sits at roughly 775m above sea level. From this point the mountains literally jump straight up. Even the foothills are really small mountains. I say farewell and head for Lake Tekapo, Mt. John and the observatory. When I arrive it is a sunny day so the lake is it’s spectacular aquamarine/turquoise color. This is caused by the “rock flour” that flows off the glaciers that feed the lake. I check into the holiday park, a really nice one, and get info on the walk up the “mountain”. The loop trail starts near the park and I have a choice of either walking along the lake and then up to the peak or taking a shorter but steeper track from the trailhead. Following the well worn advise of Sir James Hillary Edmund Stanley I decide to get the hard part over first and boy was it. The trail is a very well maintained series of switchbacks. It took me 45 min. to do the advertised hour even though I stopped several times to get my heart rate down to the non-attack range. Now unlike most walks, this one is so civilized that there
Mt Cook
Glorious sunrise is a Café at the top serving great coffee and apple pie. I decide to take about thirty minutes to read the daily paper and relax. The return part of the loop is twice the distance but largely downhill. The upper part of this trail is through a stand of tarns, see photo. Most of the lower part of the track is also a horse trail so I definitely had to watch my step there. Back in camp I get out the bike and ride the short distance into town to book the night star tour. That evening a bus picks me up at the camp and we go to the office to check on the weather. The guys on the hill call off the tour because of clouds. As I walk back (missed the return shuttle) I look up at Orion and the Milky Way and I’m back at Boy Scout camp in the summer of 1956. That was the last time I can remember feeling like I was in the stars.
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