Te Araroa : Arthur's Pass to Lake Coleridge Lodge

KM this section : 70
KM completed : 2228

Feeling good and rested.

For all the massive weight of food on my back I walk out of Arthur's Pass feeling pretty good, feet feel fine (the infected toe seems to have cleared up), and I'm enjoying the walking.  Funny to think there is only a month or so to go...  I am taking it easy with my heavy pack, a bit of road walking, some actually pleasant forest track, and a well trodden path by a river to West Harper Hut - a 'historic' hut with a dirt floor no less, a bit too historic for comfort I feel and camp outside.

Lake Coleridge.

From here it's up over an easy saddle, and I see a sign with 'Lake Coleridge 5 hours' - am I a day ahead?  Nor quite, it is a big lake, but still easy tramping downriver towards it.  In fact I don't quite reach the lake, there being no track alongside it the trail runs one valley over as it were.  Anyway, I camp, build a fire to cook on, as is becoming a habit, and have a restful evening.  This taking it easy has some merit...

The slacking continues all the way to the lodge, along a gravel road with stunning views of the surrounding peaks, then the length Lake Coleridge itself, and finally the Rakaia river.  These days I walk quite quickly on roads, so make it to the lodge before 4pm, time to shower, relax, even play a round of pitch and putt golf!  Oh and eat lots of food of course :)

Pitch and putt!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.