By Meike Pummer, 24 February 2022
Colan, Meike, Amon, and Nathan (in spirit)
Pack rafts, late starts, muddy tarns
Hypothesis: maybe carrying parckrafts over one of the gnarliest routes in the Tararuas will save us some time
Methodology: Assemble 3 humans, 5 kebabs, 4 avos, 1kg of hummus, 2 packrafts, a mango, and a bag of cherries and set off into the hills
Results: it didnt.
Outcomes: a pretty sweet haircut in the howling winds
Future Prospects: we need more packrafts!
Route description (times include faff which we did a lot of):
Day 1: Otaki forks to Field Hut - 3hrs
Day 2: Field Hut to Maungahuka Hut via Kime Hut - 9hrs
Day 3: Maungahuka Hut to Penn Creek Hut via Pakihore Ridge - 5hrs
Day 4: Packraft Penn Creek and the Otaki river to Otaki Forks - 7.5hrs