Day 10: Slaty Hut to Rintoul Hut - 'the unexpected summit'

What. A. Day. When i say that it either means one of three things. 1. It was exhausting. 2. It was amazing 3. Something crazy happened.

Today all 3 of those combined into one hell of a day!

I'd got the best nights sleep in the hut so woke feeling good and I think because we had decided we'd just do a short hike (5hrs) to Old Man's Hut it easy virtually a cruisey day.

Laura, Conny and I decided to all walk at our own pace today. It was quite freeing walking on my own. I climbed up out of the bowl our hut was in and as soon as I got to the ridgeline the views were spectacular. In one direction it looked across to Mt Rintoul, the highest point on the richmond ranges which we climb tomorrow and all the Richmond Ranges, Kaikoura Ranges and Alps in the distance. My future. Behind me was the mountains I'd hiked across the previous week.

Then I spotted something further into the distance over the sea, Mt Taranaki. The perfect volcanic cone hundreds of kilometres away in the North Island. That did it for me, the realisation of how incredibly lucky I've been with the weather, the fact that I was surrounded by mountains 360 degrees and not a care in the world. I was in my element and all i could think of was 'this is why i hike'. This is what I get to see and so wish others would too! This is just stunning.

The day kept getting better the further along the ridge i hiked, completely in my own little world and so high above the rest of the world. Every time I got puffed on the uphills I'd look down and their was a beautiful daisy basquing in the sun looking so happy, it would make me smile more.

When walking a thru-hike you just seem to notice more and appreciate the little things. Yesterday as i was hiking up through the forest near dying from exhausting i looked down and saw a big bumble bee with his legs packed with pollen crawl into a little cave under a root of a tree. I know this seems so ridiculous but i found that to be the most adorable little thing. I was like how proud he must be bringing all that to the hive. How proud will i be when i get to the hut, and so it kept me going. When in real life would i ever notice a bee and think what a sweet little thing...

Laura, Conny & I stopped for a snack and view break when we were joined by another TA hiker, David from Austria. What people don't realize is these mountains there is a whole world of hikers and such a big community. And straight away we were chilling with David on a mountain top taking photos. Complete strangers but because you've all been through the same things the previous days it's like youve known each other for ever.

It was sitting here we contemplated the idea of summiting Mt Rintoul today, instead of first thing in the morning. We did a pros and cons list. The pros were outweighing the cons.

We thought there was to be a tank where we could refill our bottles along the way but there wasn't and so this meant we had only 2 litres of water for what was now to be a 10 hour day, cooking in the sun climbing the mountain.

We passed the turn off to old mans hut and that meant there was no turning back. up we climbed. Straight up the mountain of schist and large rocks. One orange marker at a time. I just had to get to the next marker and i was no sooner walking along a narrow ledge on the top of the little Mt Rintoul summit. Dicey as anything, there was no room for error otherwise you're off the side of thw mountain to your death below. You just don't look down, just keep looking ahead and hope the rocks you're walking on bare your weight.

I've done some sketchy things in my time but dropping down from little Mt rintoul summit to the saddle is now up there in my top 5. What I'm more amazed at is that there was no rationalizing the danger of what we were doing, you just had to do it. So there's no point questioning, i just prayed I'd make it down. The problem was once we were down we still had to go straight back up on the other side to the summit.

I am not even joking when i say we literally came vertically down the side of a cliff, the schist falling away under our feet as we carefully slid down every step. Thank goodness for poles because we were basically skiing down on rocks. Everything about it saying this should not be a path, it wasn't a path. It was mental! But again the only way was forward and so down we went/slid.

Once down and half way to the summit we looked back at where we had just climbed down. How was that even a path!? And how did i just manage to come down it, like it was no big deal.

Thru hiking is definitely a mind game. Laura and I were chatting and normally when you do a day walk your legs are sore the next day. We're on day 10 of near 8 hour days hiking and yet we go to bed sore and tired and wake up at 6am refreshed and ready to put our five day old socks on and go again.

Thank goodness for Andrew. Noticing there was no water he hiked an extra hour to old man hut to refil his water bottles before summiting. He left Laura and I one of his bottles. An absolute lifesaver. My mouth was so dry, to that point where you know you are so dehydrated it's not great. But i needed to pee on the side of the mountain so I took that as a good sign that i was still needing to go toilet. There have been days where is girls realised we haven't needed to go toilet for the entire day and then we know we're not having enough water.

It was a very tough uphill climb on rocks to the top. Not just small rocks, good volcanic sized rocks which every now and then you'd spot a huge piece of quartz and wish you could pop it in your bag to take home.

Orange marker by orange marker i hit to the summit marker. I had done it! I laughed in disbelief and laughed some more. What the actual. What was to be a cruisey 5 hour hike turned into summiting a 1780m mountain. The adrenaline was pumping. Laura and I giving each other a big hug at the top in celebration and disbelief at what we'd conquered.

I may have got a little too excited because we still had another 2 hours of scaling steep rocky schist path to get to the hut. Every foot step placed with such focus so not to roll an ankle or slide on down.

The path to the hut once back into the tree line went on for what seemed like eternity! I just wanted the sign of that hut! My feet were done!

I am absolutely exhausted this evening but it's that feeling of being so tired from one of the greatest epic days. I treated myself to mi goreng (2 minute noodles) as a celebratory dinner, of course with added peanut butter and dehydrated peas.

I also drank close to 4 litres of water upon reaching the tank at the hut and about 3 electrolyte tablets.

I'm in bed by 730pm tonight and my feet are aching lying in bed. The greatest thing i know is that at 6am tomorrow the hurt will be long gone and it's a new day, to have another good day! I am so incredibly thankful for my body being able to withstand the last few days. Other than saw feet at the end of the day, i don't hurt. I feel great and i havI have no blisters. I'm continually amazed at what bodies can withstand and handle and how far you can go, when just setting little goals after little goals. You end up a hell of a long way from where you started and some great stories along the way.

Ren x