The forecast for the day was heavy rain throughout the day. We woke up around 6 am to find clear skies. The warden had instructed the group to check with him in the morning before we set off due to the weather. When I saw him around 6:30 in the morning, he gave us the all clear. We quickly got ready and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. We had trusted our lives on dehydrated food. As food we had planned for enough dehydrated food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with this we had bread, a bar of chocolate and energy bars for snack. If everything went as per plan we had enough food and so had ensured we dont have any extra weight to carry. We were betting our lives on something we had never tried before. A big mistake!!!
We sat down to breakfast to have curry laksa. Breakfast didnt go well, we couldnt eat the stuff. Rashmi gave up and had a snack and left about 45 mins ahead of me. I packed up the overnight stuff in the and set off. It took me nearly 2.5 hours to catch up with Rashmi. In the mean time, Rashmi had befriended Roger and had covered quite a bit of ground before I caught up.
Today we have 16.5 km ahead of us. The track climbs gradually throughtout the day from Clinton Hut to Mintaro Hut (second night's stop). About an hour or so after you leave Clinton hut you come to a Clinton Forks, where it looks like 2 rivers meet. I rejoined Rashmi near the Hirere Falls Shelter where we stopped for a break. While the day started off looking bright and clear and the day progressed the sky was getting cloudy. You couldnt see the mountain tops due to the clouds. The nice thing with this place when it rains is you get to see uncountable waterfalls, I dont think there are many photos from today where you cannot spot a waterfall.
Hirere Falls to Bus Stop to Mintaro hut
After a short break at Hirer Falls Shelter, we set out again. Our next stop is the bus stop for lunch. Of course there is no bus that stops here, I forget why they called this the bus stop. The rain is falling staedily but it isnt heavy at all. By now you need your rain jacket and need the hood. Due to the rain you are focused on taking one step after another. Every now and then you look up and you are amazed by the wonderful sights around you, so you quickly draw your camera and click. You didn't need to look around, you could just point and click and be guaranteed that most of the shots would come out good. We stopped at the bus stop for lunch. By now a large part of the group had gone ahead of us, and we were relieved to see that most of the group was still at the bus stop having lunch. The rain is getting heavier. We trudge on. The tracks passes many avalanche areas and at places you can see these boulders strewn across the path, from previous avalanches. You feel vulnerable at such times.
The last 2 hours is very difficult. You keep convincing yourself that the hut is just round the next corner, the next corner, the next corner. After a while it frustrates you, you are tired, hungry, wet, it is a uphill climb and the weight of the backpack is telling on your shoulders, not to mention the blister. You just want the walk to be over, you dont want to take a break since you think you are that close to the hut. We get to the hut a little after 4 Pm I guess. Not bad, are the spirits and confidence are high. You settle down for the night, Day 3 is the crux of the walk, since you got to climb the 1100m McKinnon pass. Dinner is a disaster. We cannot stand the dehydrated food any longer and are now solely depending on the bread and the bar of chocolate to survive and now we start food rationing.
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