Shortly after 7.50am I drove to Middlemarch to Noel and Rebecca Matthews' B&B called "Rose Cottage" arriving at 9am. After a catchup Noel drove to the start of our entry to the Rock and Pillar Range which was 5km north of Middlemarch near the McKinnon Road Junction. The Department of Conservation call it Access point 4 on their brochure "Rambling in the Rock and Pillar Range". We started out trek at 10.25am.I had this image of a very long gradual climb along the ridge but soon learnt we were going up the face of the mountain. We followed orange marker pegs up a steep and winding course. We stopped regularly to catch our breath and admire
the view. We climbed at a steady pace with the marker post at the start saying it would be a 2-3 hour walk. The brochure said 3 hours. When we hit the snow line you could feel the cooler temperature. As we got well into the unthawed snow region and closer to the top the wind became stronger and cooler. However we reached Big Hut in 2.5 hours. It was decidedly chilly. My tee-shirt was soaked in sweat from carrying my backpack. I changed into a polyprop and it felt good.Big Hut (1300m) is not quite at Summit Rock (1450m) and maybe one day we could do this. Big Hut is 1.2kn SE of Summit Rock
We had lunch inside the hut. While in the hut I noticed the colour on two finger tips of my left hand were going white. Then very quickly they went numb which was an odd sensation. I had never experienced this before. I put on my gloves but the numbness became more pronounced. We did a wee bit of scouting around and started our descent at 1.37pm. We made wonderful progress through the snow line and then it was hard work after that. I found it very slippery and landed on my back
side a number of times. My shoes kept slipping on the Marrem Grass. The jarring on my knees made stops necessary. We got down in exactly 2 hours.
It was a wonderful experience doing this walk (trek) but I felt knackered afterwards. I thought I was reasonably fit.
Once at the B&B it was a couple of beers and then into a shower with fantastic pressure. I could feel the stiffness ooze out of my body. I spent the night at Noel and Rebecca's home and left early in the morning. The heavy rain put a halt to my plans of walking to Ngapuna on the Rail Trail.
We had lunch inside the hut. While in the hut I noticed the colour on two finger tips of my left hand were going white. Then very quickly they went numb which was an odd sensation. I had never experienced this before. I put on my gloves but the numbness became more pronounced. We did a wee bit of scouting around and started our descent at 1.37pm. We made wonderful progress through the snow line and then it was hard work after that. I found it very slippery and landed on my back
side a number of times. My shoes kept slipping on the Marrem Grass. The jarring on my knees made stops necessary. We got down in exactly 2 hours.It was a wonderful experience doing this walk (trek) but I felt knackered afterwards. I thought I was reasonably fit.
Once at the B&B it was a couple of beers and then into a shower with fantastic pressure. I could feel the stiffness ooze out of my body. I spent the night at Noel and Rebecca's home and left early in the morning. The heavy rain put a halt to my plans of walking to Ngapuna on the Rail Trail.
As I type this 24 hours later I feel a wee
bit stiff but nothing major.
bit stiff but nothing major.
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