Tramping up Mount Pirongia

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Paul and I hiked a portion of Mt Pirongia one of the first weekends after I arrived in NZ. At the time the weather was cooler and we had a fair bit of rain and the trail was really muddy. I remember it having some ups and downs and parts that were difficult to cross due to mud. I also remember the return portion being easier as I had built up some confidence on traversing the trail. Paul and I have been acquiring some gear for backpacking and wanted to do an overnight tramp. Paul has done a lot of backpacking in the past so I knew I would be with someone who knew what we were doing, which is important as I had never done backpacking before. In fact, I think the extent of my hiking experience was at Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin. I’ve slept in a tent there as well, but I’ve never combined them and hiked with a pack on my back. There is always time to try new things and there is no time like the present, so Paul planned a tramp to hike up to the summit of Mt. Pirongia. There are a couple different trails to the summit and Paul included me in the planning and asked what trails I’d prefer. We were really just looking at two trails as they both started and ended from the same spot. I said I’d prefer to go up the Mountain using the shorter but steeper trail and return the next day using the longer but less steep trail-the Bell Track. The portion Paul and I previously hiked on was the beginning of the Bell Track so I figured it’d be easier to end with something familiar. I find descents to be more difficult on my knees so I thought the longer but easier trail would be better for the descent. I didn’t think too much about being more fatigued on the second day and having to hike for twice as long. In the end, Paul and I agree we made the right decision on the sequence of the trails, but it was tough to say the least.

As I’ve had a couple days to process the weekend, I’ve come to appreciate that I did it, but during it I was definitely not too happy about it. I’m not quite sure how to explain just how difficult it was for me. To start I’ll just say that mud was a recurring theme throughout. The first day we took the Tahuanui Track to the summit. The weather forecast was mid 60s and sunny, but I remember it being cooler on the trails due to the heavy bush and tree coverings. I wore pants, new tramping ankle high boots, a tank, and a long sleeve shirt which kept me pretty comfortable for the majority of the day. Paul and I each carried a pack which held a tent, two ground pads, two sleeping bags, two inflatable pillows, minimal extra clothing, water, food, cooking gear, a first aid kit, etc. It was pretty much just the essentials, but my pack ended up weighing about 23 pounds. Paul’s pack was about 35 pounds. Those weights probably don’t sound too crazy, but when you’re hiking up and down a mountain for 21 out of 36 hours it ends up feeling really heavy by the end! The Tahuanui track said it should take between 4 and 6 hours to complete so we figured the halfway point should be about 2.5 hours. Well, I’m obviously not an experienced tramper because we did not finish within the suggested time frame. It took us more like 7.5 hours. Up to the “halfway” point, the trail wasn’t too bad. There was a nice portion with an incline, but it was rather smooth and not steep. I was getting a little tired around the 2.5/3 hour mark so we decided it was a good time to relax and eat our lunch. Paul being the expert planner he is, packed us a great lunch of cheese, salami, and crackers-gourmet for hiking. Haha. We also had a vita-sport drink powder to go along with our water. Then it was time to hit the trail for another couple hours. About an hour or so of walking after lunch we ran into a woman who said she was coming from the summit. I asked her about how far it was away and she said, “it’s really muddy, it took me about 4 hours.” I told Paul and he was convinced she meant that’s how long it previously took her to go up that trail. We came to learn that she really did mean from that point. The trail went from a gradual incline to a fairly constant steeper incline that took us about 5 hours. So the mentality of being halfway done at the 2.5 hour mark left me feeling dejected and anxious for the end. I kept thinking it’d have to be over soon. Thankfully the paths were very well marked, so I was never worried we perhaps got off trail and that’s why it was taking so long. No, it took so long because it didn’t just take physical strength to make it up the hill, it also took mental strategy to figure out the best way to make it up rocks with sloppy mud and shoes full of slippery mud. I’ll take the time now to put in how awesome hiking poles are. They are the best invention ever. I don’t think I would’ve made it through the hike without them. (Please pardon my random interchanging of tramping and hiking.) So back to the trail, picture a trail about a foot wide and you’re surrounded by fern bushes. You then encounter mud that if you step in it, you’re at risk for your foot getting sucked under and mud getting into the boot. (Wet feet doesn’t go well with a day of tramping.) As you make your way around the muddy section by either stepping on the surrounding fern bushes without being able to see very well what’s under them like rocks or roots or you have to grab onto a tree and Tarzan around it. I actually enjoyed swinging around the trees as it reminded me of my youth when I loved to climb trees. So after traversing the mud and maybe placing the foot in not quite the right area so you have muddy boots, you’re then encountered with a steep uphill where the rocks and tree branches are at waist level. Getting up that step with a 23 lb pack that felt like 50 pounds by that time wasn’t easy. I’d have to count to three and use my poles or a tree to get myself up. Sometimes Paul would push a little on my pack to give me a boost up too or at least make sure I didn’t just fall backward on him. I would’ve taken video of this to give you a better idea of what we encountered, but we didn’t have the time for that. Besides, you’d wouldn’t think I was tough, you’d just think I was silly for doing it. On the other hand, though, other people were going up and down the mountain on the same day and they looked just fine. Happy and not covered in mud. They must have had hidden wings I couldn’t see. I slipped a couple times over the course of the weekend, but thankfully it only ended up with a little mud on my bottom and not a sprained ankle. Twice my ankle felt a twinge, but everything remained intact. The pressure to be careful led to my taking more time, but if I had sprained something then it would’ve taken me a lot longer, hence the extra 1.5 hours over the suggested time period. Yeah, if anything happened, I would’ve had to make it to the top or the bottom because there wasn’t much other choice. No cell signal and no real other way to get out of there. At the top there was a helicopter pad in case something really bad happened, but I still would’ve had to make it there. As were neared the summit, the wind picked up, the clouds rolled in bringing some misty rain/dampness, and the temperature dropped. We were also fighting time to make it to the Hut, another 30 min-1 hour after the summit before dark. We left around noon because we thought it’d only take 6 hours and the sun sets closer to 7:30 so we anticipated we’d have plenty of time. Well, we did make it to the summit, sore but uninjured and in fair spirits. I was just happy to almost be done. Unfortunately due to the clouds we didn’t even have a good view to be rewarded with or take a picture of. Also at that point we just wanted to get to the campground. We set up camp, put on some warmer layers, and headed to the campers hut to refill water and make dinner. We put our camp stove to use and heated up some water to put in our dehydrated campers meal Paul purchased. We were treated to warm beef stroganoff and we even had an apricot crisp one for dessert. It felt nice to have some warm food since it got really cold on top of the mountain with the wind. We were so tired, though, we just wanted to eat it and get to bed. There were two huts you could stay in for $5/night, but we wanted to try our our new tent. There was a port-a-potty on top, but due to the lack of access, there was no toilet paper. Don’t worry, Paul saved the day again and made sure to pack some. It’s good to be married to an Eagle Scout. 😉 I didn’t sleep too well on the ground even with the ground mat. You’d think I’d have been exhausted enough to sleep anywhere, but I kept rolling from side to side. My eyes were closed so I was resting and I had one dream so I know I fell into a deep sleep for some time, but it wasn’t like sleeping in a bed, that’s for sure. Our sleeping bags were warm enough, but the sweat and the dampness in the air lingered on the skin which made for a stickly sleep. Not very comfortable either. I awoke early with the sun and eager to start another day of tramping. Ha, yeah right. I was eager to get started because I knew we had a long day ahead of us, but I didn’t want to get out of the sleeping bag into the cool air. Thankfully the sun was up and it wasn’t too cold out. We took down our tent, refilled our packs with water and had 2 granola bars for breakfast. When we were refilling the water packs, Paul saw I only drank about 1 L of water for the entire day. Not really enough for 7 hours of work. I say I function on dehydration, side effect of being a Nurse and not having time to drink a lot of water while at work. Probably why I barely have any fingerprints. Another negative part about only drinking that much, is that I could’ve taken off another 4 pounds if I would’ve drank the other 2 liters of water I was carrying.

We left the Hut around 9:30 AM and took the Bell Track down. It took us about 1.5 hours as we tramped along the ridge to make it to the Cone. Sunday morning’s weather was really nice with the sun shining and it led to a really neat view of the surrounding terrain. We could even see a little bit of the Tasman Sea around the Raglan area. We had a little snack then started the steep descent. This part made me take time to think about how to maneuver around and I wasn’t going very fast so it took us around 2 hours to get through that section. We had topography maps of the trail so we had some idea of where we were and we had a compass, but no altimeter so it was difficult to discern exactly where were. We knew there was a Campsite clearing at the “halfway” point which was supposed to take 4-6 hours. I knew I was going slow at the beginning, but once we hit the 5 hour mark I was sure we were going to be at the clearing soon. I was determined to not stop for “lunch” until we got there. Paul was wearing the watch and I’d occasionally get a time check from him, but when we hit the 6 hour mark I stopped asking. I was getting feeling dejected about how long it was taking, but I was determined to keep going. I was afraid if the first half took us so long, how on earth were we going to get back to the car. Paul already forewarned me that we’d be completing the tramp in the dark, but I was nervous how long that’d be for. I really wanted to just camp for the night, but since we both worked in the morning and we didn’t have cell service there was no way to let work know why we wouldn’t show up so the only option was to continue.

It ended up taking us 8 hours to get to the clearing. 8 long hours, especially because I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Paul due to the negativity creeping in on me. I was starting to feel like we weren’t going to make it out. I had a small breakdown when we got to the clearing. I was happy to finally be there, but I just wanted to stop for the night. Paul said the tears weren’t going to help anything, and of course that's true, but I couldn’t help it. I knew we had to go and that I could do it, but I groaned at the weight of my pack going back on. There are no bruises to be seen, but it sure feels like there should be some on the front of my shoulders and across my hips.

One good thing about the day, though, was that Paul had cell service at the top so he was able to see that the All Blacks won the Rugby World Championship! Woohoo. That got me through about 10 minutes of the day, like this sucks, but at least the All Blacks won.

Paul and I had a quick lunch of peanut butter, pita, and dried apricots. You think we would’ve been starving, but we could only eat one pita and could barely finish the small plastic bag of apricots. We did have some snacks of cashews and beef jerky for the trail as well. We knew that we had to continue even though I was hurting all over, we’d been hiking for 8 hours, and still had a long time ahead of us so we left the clearing at 6 pm. The remainder of the trail included a shorter portion of some steeper incline/declines, but then it’d end with the portion we had previously completed which was mild compared to the start of the day. I was determined to make it to the bridge which led to the 2-3 hour “familiar” part in the daylight and we were successful. Once we crossed the bridge, though, we were pretty much in the dark due to the tree covering and we took out our headlamps. Yup, the last 2-3 hours of our hike would be in the pitch black. Luckily, my headlamp’s light was bright and lit the path as well as it could. Despite the lessened vision, we were making pretty good time. The trail was less muddy than the previous time we hiked it which helped a lot. It still had portions that had small ponds to traverse around, but by that time we were experienced and just wanted to be done. The last 2 km was just a flat gravel path to the carpark. The stars were shining bright and we could hear the water rushing in the river alongside the walk, but that was the longest 2 km EVER! Each step required a conscious effort and I was using the poles like a cross country skier to try and propel me forward. I tried counting my steps too. Basically I was doing anything to just make the time pass. We finally made it to the carpark around 10:45 PM. A 13 hour day with a couple brief rest periods.

It had to have easily been the hardest physically demanding weekend I’ve had. The only thing that might come close is when I’ve worked a full PM/night double (from 12:30 PM to 7:45 AM) as a Nurse, but there is more time for sitting and not as much weight to carry. Mentally, working is exhausting in a different way, but still this weekend was way tougher.

I wasn’t mad at Paul for suggesting we do the hike and I wasn’t even mad we did it. During it I just wanted it to be over, but I can now say that I am glad we did it. It did prove to me that I can push myself even when it feels like I can’t. I was putting my hands on trees and muddy roots and not caring about anything but making it out. My legs wanted to stop, but my arms kept pushing me forward. I was very very thankful that NZ doesn’t have the same kind of wildlife as America so I didn’t have to worry about snakes or dangerous animals and there were like no mosquitoes. Whew! We encountered some large flies buzzing around us, a large worm that was like 8 inches long, lots of spider webs (sorry to all the ones I crushed) wild goats (well we heard some make noise in the distance and we saw some of their turds but we didn’t directly encounter them…if we did I would’ve wanted to catch it and have it carry my pack or me down the mountain), moths flying at my head lamp, a mouse ran on a tree branch over my head, and beetles came out at night. So really nothing bad, but all things that would normally bother me at least a little bit. I was so far out of my comfort zone, though, and just so focused on finishing that I wasn’t even phased. My previous camping experiences always included real toilet facilities with running warm water and even warm showers. This trip, I brought a change of under-clothing items, socks, and pants, but ended up wearing the same shirt as the previous day. There was definitely no showering and no rinsing off with the frigid water out of the faucet at the campsite. Thankfully I only had to pee in the woods once and we had the TP so that wasn't actually too bad. Again, just things that would normally make me uncomfortable, but that time it was just what had to be done because there was no alternative. Paul, who like I said has done multiple hikes before, even said it was a hard one and agreed it was a long day. Now, two days later, I’m still a little sore, but not as bad as I would’ve imagined I’d be. Maybe because it was a continual repeated motion over a long period of time, that the muscles were more fatigued than damaged when compared to a quick high-impact workout. I don’t know, but I’m not complaining! The only part that leaves me feeling a little bad about the tramp is how difficult it was for me and how long it took me, but other people we encountered were going up to the summit and back down in the same day and they looked just fine. There was even a tramping group of people in their 60-70s who were at the summit. I don’t know what trail they took, but I was impressed to say the least. I know everyone is different, though, and I just remind myself that we tramped for 13 hours in one day after a day of 7 hours of tramping and we covered an estimated 30ish km over the course of the two days. We basically did a half marathon on Sunday, but with a pack on our back, with a lot of inclines/declines, and constantly negotiating our steps. There was rarely a time when we could just walk and talk and look at the scenery. You do that, and you could trip on a root, slip on a rock, or get stuck in muck.

Mom and Dad, I know you said not to do anything dangerous, but I didn’t really. It was just difficult, but I feel tougher now having done it. I can even say I’m happy we did it. I don’t think I would’ve believed you Saturday evening or Sunday morning if you told me I’d be happy about it two days later, though! I’m not sure what kind of further tramping and backpacking we’ll do in the future, I do hope it’s not as bad, though. This weekend did make me nervous about hiking Mt Taranaki in the future, but I guess we’ll just see what happens. If you’re intrigued about this and you visit me and want to do this, I’ll be happy to drop you off and pick you up the next day. I’m happy I did it, but I’m not stupid enough to say I want to do it again!



Not exactly the same mentality as when I was freaking out about sleeping in a sleeping bag under the stars with no tent. Girls, I still wouldn’t want to do that. At least when awake you know what’s coming after you! haha

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Photos

Roosters at the carpark
This guy and two other chickens were hanging out at the carpark by the river and seeing us off on our adventure. Needless to say they weren't there when we returned to our car.

Lookout about 2 hours into Saturday's Tahuanui Trail
I was still feeling good and happy. It looks like we're up pretty high, halfway right? Wrong!

Lookout about 2 hours into Saturday's Tahuanui Trail
It was a nice view.

Saturday lunch
Just sitting on the ground eating lunch. Yummy!

Pirongia Summit Sign
Average Walking Times...I hate you.

Paul at top of tower of Pirongia Summit
Clouds rolling in Saturday evening. This picture is from on top of a tower on the summit. The tower's stairs were metal and cold, but we climbed to the top for a couple pictures. It was too cold and windy and the clouds hid a lot of the landscape so we didn't stay up for long.

Laura at top of tower on Pirongia summit
Can you tell I was tired? I wanted the picture, but I wanted to be at the campsite so we didn't take too many pictures on top of the tower on the Summit. We still had like 45 minutes or so from the Summit to the campsite.

Pirongia Summit View 1
Saturday evening

Pirongia Summit View 2
Saturday evening

Pirongia Summit View-3
Saturday evening

Laura smiling on trail between camp and cone
This wasn't a bad part of the trail. Paul walks a lot faster than me so he was able to zoom ahead and grab this pic.

Laura standing on Cone-Sun morning
Yeah, only 1/1.5 hours in and I was already happy to take my Pack off and have a snack. Only 11.5 more hours to go for the day.

Comments

[Dr Julie]

Well done Laura!
Laura, I love your blog! Your tramping experience sounds memorable. Just think of the self.confidence you develop by pushing yourself past your comfort zone. Wow! I'm so impressed and proud of you. You're happy you did it but not planning on doing it again just now. I have heard mothers say that on the delivery ward. Just a little chuckle. You write so well. I felt like I was right there with you tramping through the mud. But I'm not of course. I am in my comfy bed with 2 dogs curled up next to me. Stay well. Love Dr Julie