This week looked slightly different to the usual. It was my first week of my final school holidays leading into the short time I have left. This week I stuck to all of my training as planned and was very happy with my interval run I completed Tuesday morning, where I felt strong and capable in my running abilities.
Following on Wednesday after I completed my hour run I headed over to Mount Pirongia where I started another one of my solo overnight hikes, heading up bell track. I had done some research into this track as there are 4 different tracks up to the hut and summit, all with different time lengths.
The bell track came in at the longest and knowing I usually walk faster than the recommended time I wanted one that was a good length hence I chose this track of recommended 8-12 hours over the recommended 3-4 hours. When reading into it, it had reviews of it being muddy but I really should have listened to these reviews more closely.
The weather was already forecasted to turn overnight and I was left with no views over the surrounding mountains, and knowing what they would have looked like made it slightly disappointing, but I knew I didn’t tramp just for views but for the tramping itself.
Nearing the top it became more of a rock climb and then came the deep pools of mud, being so high meant I was no longer in a large tall forest but a low, shrubby and packed area where I couldn’t go off the track and around. Left only to move through the mud in front of me, it was the type of mud where you couldn’t tell or comprehend the depth and many times it did catch me out and I sunk to my knees, saturating my boots inside out.
It turned more into a mental battle than physical just telling myself one foot in front of the other until I finally reached the hut after just under 6 hours, and just missed the main turn in weather. I was grateful for the hut to be a serviced hut with access to a tap to clean my boots and legs. That was the first thing I did before changing into my new set of clothes and settling into the hut for the night.
One of the things I love about tramping is meeting new people who are like minded and out doing the same passions and hobbies as you, and this time I even met a couple of my age. After refuelling as much as I could I headed to bed and rested before getting up and packing to set off once again.
Knowing how challenging the track I came up was I knew I would struggle to do it again especially after the heavy rain overnight, so I opted for a safer more maintained track that looped back to my car at the bottom, this track was much more smooth sailing and boy was I happy to take my boots off at the end, saving them from the pain I was putting them through in each step.
Tramping is something I love and try to incorporate into my life, but knowing the impact it has on my bodies recovery I know I can’t do them all the time especially nearing events like I am in the next month, I’m now four days post-hike, and finally feeling almost fully recovered and excited to smash out another 4 weeks leading to my half marathon race in Auckland!
– Jessica Bray