Tuesday, May 3, 2016

The End of the World


By Tyler Socash
IG: @tylerhikes 

 

"You make your own luck, that's what I believe," our host Dene was steadfast with his delivery.  Decades of hard work at the bottom of New Zealand's South Island fortified his opinion that opportunities are well-earned.  A poster hanging on Dene's wall depicts a man on a fishing vessel hauling crayfish crates.  It reads: laboring in the Foveaux Straight takes all that you've got, and the men of the Southland have got all that it takes.

I met Dene on the Motatapu Track between Wanaka and Arrowtown.  An ardent outdoorsman, Dene completed Te Araroa a year before the pathway was officially opened.  As a cancer survivor, he simply stopped making excuses and made time for the things he loves.  He's even planning to thru-hike the trail again before he turns 70 next year.

 
 Dene - the man, the myth, the legend

Rain fell cold and hard when I met Dene at the Highland Creek Hut.  Following a conversation about efforts to protect native birds, bush, and rivers, Dene invited me to stay at his house in Riverton when I walked by.

"What if I have friends with me?" I asked.

"Bring them all, mate."

Everything in the wake of this encounter has seemed serendipitous.  Bekah and I were hiking by ourselves now.  We left Queenstown and began our latest deviation from the TA... Adding on the Routeburn Track Great Walk and the Greenstone Valley.  We hiked the Routeburn in a day, which happened to be one of our most beautiful and difficult days on trail.  The Conical Hill spur was a highlight, as was Routeburn Falls.  We even spotted an endangered kākā parrot in flight! 

 
Conical Hill view with Fiordland NP in the back

 
The majestic Routeburn Track

Great Walks are wonderful, yet overcrowded.  If visiting New Zealand, you are more likely to have a better wilderness experience far, far away from the nine Great Walks.  Great Walks are also a bit pricey.  Doing the Milford Track alone costs over 300 dollars.  We didn't do that one.  

At the end of the Greenstone Valley we connected with Te Araroa once again.  Bekah and I also got to meet two wonderful new characters... Paul and Kelli!  The timing seemed too good to be true, as Reyne and Brooke also arrived at this amazing hut before darkness settled.  It was great catching up with old and new friends!

We had seen Paul and Kelli before.  During our 100km bike day we rode past them as they were marching along.  It was exciting to officially meet our newest hiking partners.  Paul is a phenomenal story teller (remind me to retell his story about Barry the Brick in-person), and Kelli has gained the official title of "Chocolate Manager."  Paul would eat all of their treats if not for Kelli's diligence.  

Following the Movora Lakes Walkway, known for some Fangorn Forest filming scenes in The Lord of the Rings, Bekah and I headed into Te Anau to add on another bonus hike.  Six years ago my sister Nikki and I hiked half of the Kepler Track that wasn't covered in avalanche chutes.  Yet again I felt like this was a fortuitous opportunity to complete a trail that I never got to finish.  Bekah and I finished the 60km loop in a day and a half!  (Pretty impressive considering Bekah's sore foot.)  But maybe Dene is right?  Maybe we earned this opportunity by hiking hard and fast?  Maybe things happen for a reason because we make the things we love happen?  Here are some photographs...

 
 Kea along the Kepler Great Walk

 
Inside the Luxmore Cave

 
 Tākahe being feed by their protector
 
There's never enough time for me to talk about everything, but darn it I'll make time for the tākahe.  These flightless birds were once thought to be extinct. Then in 1948 a biologist explored a remote valley in Fiordland National Park and rediscovered a small population.  The Department of Conservation was thrilled and met the challenge of protecting these birds on the brink of extinction.  Trap lines were set to annihilate stoats, and the species has slowly made a precarious comeback in the delicate region.  Wouldn't you do the same if tigers, rhinos, or moose were going extinct?  Here's what's happening:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoats_in_New_Zealand

After the Kepler, Bekah and I rejoined with Paul and Kelli for the Takitimu Range.  It was here that we also had a teary-eyed goodbye with Reyne, thinking that we'd not see him again.  The Takitimu's are a hopelessly muddy place, but the silver lining is this strenuous ridgeline hike...  (Picture below)

 

Pretty soon we could see Bluff!  From the Twinlaw radio tower platform we could see what appeared to be an island jutting out into the Foveaux Straight.  It was our terminus!  It was the end.  Pangs of emotions begin to course through you.  Trying to live more in the moment, Bekah and I never really spoke about the end.  Actually seeing Bluff choked me up.  This wonderful woman who has been with me since Helena Bay was about to leave my side.  I shook off this vulnerable feeling and enjoyed the view.

 

Interestingly, Te Araroa's ending mirrors the beginning: beach walks, muddy bush tracks, farms, and roads.  We kept feeling like we were back at Cape Reinga!  While in the Longwood Forest, our final bush walk, we saw Bluff again.  Our boots filled with mud for the final time.  We slept in our last hut - Martin's Hut.  Paul and Kelli joined us.  What a rustic place!  We loved it!  It was nice to read all of the nostalgic and sentimental messages in the last hut book.  

Bekah, Paul, Kelli, and I strolled into Riverton to find Dene waiting for us outside of his house.  "I brought friends, Dene!" I shouted.  Dene and his wife Sally offered us beds and fed us for three straight days!  It was another unexpected act of kindness that has been pervasive throughout my time in New Zealand.  "It's just what you do, mate," Dene downplayed his generosity.  I am really going to have to pay this forward someday!

 
Dinner at Dene and Sally's

 
Oreti Beach, the final beach walk

As we walked towards Bluff, a crazy man on a bicycle rode by shouting, "Heading towards Bluff?"  Without waiting for a response he added, "THE END OF THE WORLD!" in a vigorous cackle.

 

It ends in a flurry.  You travel 3,000+ kilometers along a long-distance trail, touch a sign post, and then you have to go home.

 
April 19th at the finish line 

Dene brought us wine and awards!

And just when timing couldn't be any better...

 
 
...You get to be there with all of your friends!  Couples Retreat caught up, and so did Reyne and Brooke!

 

I don't think I got here by chance.  Every vacation I've ever made for myself has involved hiking.  That's 10 years of hiking!  It may sound obsessive, but I'm doing what I love.  I made the jump.  I saved money for six years!  I lived in squalor with five other amazing dudes back in Rochester.  I never bought that tangerine Subaru CrossTrek.  Thank goodness thru-hiking happens to be a relatively inexpensive way to have a long holiday! 

Thank you all for your support.  It can get a bit lonely being so far from home.  Your messages and well-wishes really matter.  Sharing my appreciation for the natural world with you... I hope that matters.  Not everyone can just walk away from life's responsibilities right now, but if these posts do anything at all, I hope they inspire readers at work/home to value nature.  Not as something to exploit, but rather to cherish...


If you want to protect a wilderness area, fill this out (takes 1 minute, I just did it).  This is a very easy way to make a huge difference.

We live in a finite space.  We need to vote to protect what unspoiled lands we have left.  Please vote to support wilderness preservation whenever possible.  We need to speak for the trees.  We are all a part of the same world, and it's the only one we've got.

Bekah and I flew back to Christchurch together.  Tempering my emotions, I pressed my face against the window.  Our long pathway unfolded beneath us!  I urged Bekah to look.  We could see Wanaka, Hawea, Ahiriri River, Mount Cook, Pukaki, Tekapo, the Rangitata River...  With tears in our eyes, we said goodbye.

One chapter ends so that another may begin.  I'm already 5 days into my third thru-hike: the Appalachian Trail.  With only two months to spare in this "Calendar Year," I hope you'll join me as I try for something remarkable...

The self-supported fastest known time!

2 comments:

  1. Love your tales of adventure and good on you for making your life what you love. May your hike on the AT be full of wonderful surprises. I can't wait to read about them.

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