Today I used a magic machine that warps the space-time continuum to transport me nearly instantaneously from one place to another, with no effort required on my part. OK, I did have to fork over $12 USD, but that seemed like a perfectly reasonable rate for travelling about 100km up a steep mountain pass. You may refer to this machine as a "bus", but today it felt like magic.
I decided that instead of spending a whole day riding to the mountains and another whole day riding from the mountains, I could spend those two days in the mountains. And I'm pretty glad I did. The scenery here is pretty amazing. I've stored my bike and some biking gear back at the hostel in Greymouth, hopped on the bus at 8 a.m., and was here around 9:45 a.m.
The weather here is almost as spastic as it was on the coast: today I had sun, snow, and rain. And wind that literally almost knocked me over at the top of Avalanche Peak. I've honestly never experienced anything quite like it. The weather seems to change approximately every 30 minutes. I should start timing it.
Based on my readings of Tramping New Zealand, I had decided that the through-hike that stops at the Goat Pass Hut would be a good one; it is supposed to be one of the most straightforward hikes in this area. However, it sounds like the rivers on the north end of the hike are running high right now, so I may have to change plans or do the trip as an out-and-back instead of a thru-hike. Furthermore, the weather forecast is calling for gusts of up to 120 kph (around 80 mph) at upper elevations. This trek never goes above 4000', but still... I'm going to check with the DoC (Department of Conservation, the local equivalent of a ranger station) tomorrow morning and see what I can figure out.
At any rate, today was an amazing day. So far Arthurs Pass is definitely one of the highlights of this trip.
I decided that instead of spending a whole day riding to the mountains and another whole day riding from the mountains, I could spend those two days in the mountains. And I'm pretty glad I did. The scenery here is pretty amazing. I've stored my bike and some biking gear back at the hostel in Greymouth, hopped on the bus at 8 a.m., and was here around 9:45 a.m.
The weather here is almost as spastic as it was on the coast: today I had sun, snow, and rain. And wind that literally almost knocked me over at the top of Avalanche Peak. I've honestly never experienced anything quite like it. The weather seems to change approximately every 30 minutes. I should start timing it.
Based on my readings of Tramping New Zealand, I had decided that the through-hike that stops at the Goat Pass Hut would be a good one; it is supposed to be one of the most straightforward hikes in this area. However, it sounds like the rivers on the north end of the hike are running high right now, so I may have to change plans or do the trip as an out-and-back instead of a thru-hike. Furthermore, the weather forecast is calling for gusts of up to 120 kph (around 80 mph) at upper elevations. This trek never goes above 4000', but still... I'm going to check with the DoC (Department of Conservation, the local equivalent of a ranger station) tomorrow morning and see what I can figure out.
At any rate, today was an amazing day. So far Arthurs Pass is definitely one of the highlights of this trip.
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