Wrong Answer

When you don't know the answer to a question, it is best to just admit that you don't know. Otherwise, you may get yourself in a situation that you wish you had avoided. I learned my lesson when I told the woman at the Department of Conservation (DOC) that yes, I am a hardy tramper. Tramping is the kiwi version of hiking, but it seems much more hardcore than hiking in the States. Back at home, I feel that I am a "hardy" hiker. But in New Zealand, things are different. Trail signs and guides don't tell you distances, they tell you times. "It's a 4 hour hike to the viewpoint." This is because the terrain is pretty varied. I should have paid more attention when the DOC lady started talking about how Arthur's Pass is the most undeveloped national park in New Zealand. How there are not always trails. How there are no bridges. How there are places where it is so steep that you will have to grab onto a fixed line and lower yourself. Somehow, I dismissed all of those things. Instead, I heard things about endemic birds and beautiful terrain. It sounded great. So off we went for a 3-day tramp in Arthur's Pass. The first day was a 5-6 hour tramp. After hitchhiking to the starting point, we ran into our first stream crossing. Jake convinced me that we should take off our boots and wade across so that we could have dry boots. The water was cold, but at least I had dry boots at the end the crossing. A few minutes later, we came to the next stream crossing, and then the next, and then more. Every time, we carefully removed our boots, held hands, crossed the river, dried off our feet, and put our boots back on our feet. At the end of the day, our feet and boots were dry. The trail went through beautiful forest with waterfalls and streams.That night, we made it to the Edwards Hut and slept in our $40 tent from Kmart for the first time. That was when we found out that sand flies can fit through the mesh. Sand flies are just like mosquitoes. They suck your blood and it itches. We spent plenty of time killing sand flies in our tent. The next day was our longest day, a 6-9 hour tramp. There wasn't much of a trail for quite a while. We hiked through uneven grass and marsh for a while, and inevitably ran into a million pokey plants. Every once in a while, one of us would shout "Ouch!" We hiked up past tree line and came to the rubble that used to be a mountain before an earthquake in the 1930's destroyed it. It was lots of boulder hopping.Then we came to the really steep section. We picked our route and started upwards. I chose a few songs to sing in my head to pass the minutes as I traipsed up the incline. Eventually, the terrain turned to scree and slippery ice grass. I got scared, but Jake didn't seem to mind. He kept plodding along while I worked myself into a panic. Finally, as I saw him disappearing from view, I screamed, "Jake, you can't leave me!" These words have now become infamous in our relationship. Jake stopped, gave me some words of encouragement, and then took out his camera. I then screamed, "I don't want you to take my picture!" These words are also now infamous. Jake patiently helped me up the steep slope, and we came to a beautiful tarn at the top. Then we descended down a stream bed, up some more hills, down some more, up some more, and down a lot more. It was a really long day. The kind of day that made me re-think my answer to the hearty-tramper question. When we made it to our camp, I remembered that it was actually Thanksgiving day. We ate noodles, vegetables, canned chicken, and a gravy sauce packet. Not a typical Thanksgiving feast, but I was too tired to care. Also, I had wet boots. Somewhere along the way, I fell in a stream and then stopped taking off my boots and avoiding streams. I happily just tramped right through them and afterward listened to the sloshing and squishing in my boots. Try it sometime. Fill your boots with water and then put them on. You may be surprised how much water that gortex can keep inside your boot. The last day of the tramp was nice and easy. It was only 3-4 hours walking downhill. Overall, I think it was a good first experience with New Zealand tramping, but now when someone asks me about my tramping abilities, I am a little wary of answering. I'm not so sure that I am "hardy" but I did survive the experience so maybe I am a little bit hardy.