By Elliot
We did it. We traversed the Richmond Ranges.
The Richmond Ranges is one of the most talked about sections of the TA and often talked about as the hardest. Even before we started the trail, we knew about it, and we knew extremely little about the trail. It’s 8 days long, but you need to carry an additional 2 days of food in case of bad weather. The terrain is rugged, with a ton of elevation gain, trails are “unformed” in many places, and there are unbridged river crossings.
Most of the North Island, we felt trepidation about the Richmond Ranges. How would ten days of food fit in our bags? Would we be able to carry packs that were so heavy? It didn’t help when we discovered that due to a campground no longer accepting packages, we would need to carry eleven days of food from Havelock, instead of starting with ten from Pelorus Bridge.
We became even more worried about this section in Wellington after our difficulties at the end of the North Island. Were we mentally, emotionally, and physically strong enough to handle all that would be thrown at us?
We surprised ourselves. Not only were we strong enough to manage it; we thrived in the Richmonds. We got used to the heavy packs within two days. I’m sure it helps that within two days, we were carrying two days less of food. To time the hardest and most risky parts of the section with good weather windows, we pushed bigger days than we thought we were capable of. And we loved those long and difficult days. It was invigorating being in the mountains.
It took us seven days to get through the Richmonds. Only six days of walking instead of the planned eight days, with one day waiting out bad weather in a hut.
Going forward, we have more confidence in ourselves. My concern that I’ve had since the start of the trail that our bags are too heavy is gone. The bags were as heavy as they are ever going to be, and we summited peaks that required scrambling and had loose rocky sections with them. We thought that our only approach to looming bad weather to stay put. Now we know we have another option available: walk bigger days than planned, effectively outrunning bad weather.
It’s been three months since we started TA, and finishing the Richmonds was a great way to celebrate that. It also reinforced the desire that we’ve had since Wellington to not finish the whole trail, instead finishing in Queenstown. Beyond Queenstown, you are out of the mountains and back on roads, farms, beach and forest. If we still have the enthusiasm and good weather to keep walking when we get to Queenstown, we will look for additional mountainous trails to hike instead.
After today, you probably won’t hear from us again for another week. We are going back into the mountains!
Before then, Ruth will follow up with daily posts from the past week, starting with Day 85 (https://elliot-weissberg-ddfr.squarespace.com/newzealand/2024/1/21/day-85-pelorus-bridge-to-middy-hut).