Walking is the best possible exercise.
Habituate yourself to walk very fast.
~Thomas Jefferson~
Dear Blog Readers,
Follow along with me on my Ultimate Hike at the base of New Zealand's Southern Alps. My 6 day, 5 night hectare
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| Mary pausing for a photo op. |
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| Day 1 I strolled 13.4 miles along the Greenstone River today. My FitbitHR recorded 32,651 steps. My resting heart rate was 49. |
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| I always tread lightly on the one-person bridge. These bridges scare me! |
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| Day 2 Day 2 started out sunny and nice. The last 2-3 hours of the Approximately 10,000 steps of this 26,707 step day gave me soaking wet feet and boots. Scrambling and stumbling over the fallen beech trees with a little help from hiking friends. |
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| Fellow |
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| A normally useful old-fashioned tool for wringing out the wet socks etc. It was useless since it was located outside in the rain! |
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| Day 3 Rest Day at Lake McKellar Lodge. Options today were to explore a waterfall. This photo shows part of the group trying to decide what to do. It poured all day. We did go to the waterfall, but I didn't take any photos. It was a wet and wild trod with heaps of navigating over, under, and around fallen trees and a swollen Lake. We spent the rest of the Rest Day... reading, talking, relaxing and drying our clothes in the drying room. My moseying record for the day on my FitbitHR was 4.8 miles and 11,755 steps. |
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| Day 4 By far, this was the longest and hardest day. My FitbitHR recorded these stats: 16.5 miles 40,094 steps 49 resting heart rate! |
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| Roaming above treeline is fun. Plus, I love to stride uphill. |
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| Making new friends is always a pleasure on a tramp. |
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| I wogged (my term for walking/jogging) this section of the downhill track. |
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| Interesting moss on the trees in this remote part of the world. |
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| Lake Marion in the distance. A lovely view from the top of Key Summit. |
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| Stepping carefully through the alpine area. |
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| It was an exhausting day, but I still had more exploring to do and many more miles to go! |
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| No detour today! |
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| Earland Falls was gushing and I sprinted by without getting soaked. |
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| Yesterday's rain made many magnificent waterfalls. |
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| A few more miles of stepping and this long, but rewarding day of hiking was almost over. |
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| Day 5 The first uphill goal was Ocean Peak Corner. Roaming on the rocky ledge delighted the senses with views of the Darrian Mountains, Hollyford Valley and the |
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| As I traversed along the most exposed part of the track I caught views of the Darrian Mountains. |
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| After a quick lunch at the hut, several of us departed to climb Conical Hill. We left our packs at the hut and started clambering the steep, rocky track. Up and up and up! |
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| Conical Hill or bust! |
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| At the top of Conical Hill looking down on the backpacks left at the lunch hut. Whew! No strolling up Conical Hill. More like crawling in some places. |
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| A look back at steps already covered is always fun. |
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| Looking ahead at what's in store for the rest of the day's trodding. |
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| Down, down. I traversed the last miles of Day 5. |
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| The Lodge roof is just below my pack. The last day's trekking appears ahead. But that's tomorrow's hike. Today's totals were: 13.4 miles 32,536 steps 49 heart rate |
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| Showered. Tired. Happy. Hydrated. |
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| Day 6 The end of the last day! 8.6 miles 20,925 steps 49 resting heart rate |
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| A fun group. We all successfully completed The Grand Traverse with aching muscles and some sore knees. But, all in all, no one had a serious injury. |
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As long as I'm... exploring
jogging
jumping
tramping
treading
trekking
trodding
trudging
wandering
meandering
moseying
navigating
hiking
scrambling
stumbling
roaming
running
stepping
strolling
striding
skipping
sprinting
wogging
I am one happy
tramper!Having hiked 164,668 steps with a grand total of 67.7 miles, I completed The Grand Traverse. |
Cheerfully,
Mary
Mary
Hi Mar, What great photos of your soggy tramp. Even with the exertion, your heart rate stays low. Love all the waterfall photos and the views of misty, cloud-shrouded peaks. Good job, my friend. Keep trekking!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a hiking adventure!! Makes me want to fly to NZ and do it…but I'd have to put in more training miles. Love all the gorgeous photos of beautiful NZ!! Congrats on your long hiking adventure. So fun to read all about it!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a great tramp! As you can guess, i personally appreciated the fact that i wasnt the only one who experienced rain in Fiordland☺
ReplyDeleteWell Done!!!
ReplyDeletemark