Day 63 – 29 Aug, S of Grubbfjonna Lake to 3km East of Snasa

(39 km, total 1629 km, 11h 40 min, 0745 to 1915, 2030 to 2040)

I had another bad sleep, waking frequently. I thought the previous night poor sleep may have been due to my location but last night I was in a nice hidden spot so that is not it.
My morning routine was a little slower as I had a lot of condensation and after wiping it down I wanted to give it a little more time to dry before putting the tent away.

I walked back to the road and followed the nice dirt road for 2.5 km.

I was going to shortcut where the road bent nearly 90 degrees and went for 50 meters before going back the other way but when I got there I realised it did this due too how steep it was and stayed on the road.

Down the bottom of the hill I turned right onto the sealed road. This followed a wide river with mainly pine trees on both sides of the steep hills. There were cabins and houses along the way which kept the interest up. It was 10 km on the tar seal and this distance is ok, not hurting too much.

At a big sign for the nearby National Park I turned left and over a bridge then followed the dirt road to the right. Around here was my 1600km mark so I made a sign with deadfall. It was appropriate being on a road given how many road sections are in this area.

I was looking for a track to the left to shortcut over the hill but did not see any tracks, despite looking hard. It was small close trees which looked difficult to travel through so I took the wuss option and kept on the road. This was an extra 2 km but probably significantly quicker than bashing through this sort of vegetation.

The road walk went quickly and as I approached the turnoff there was a group of 4 people there staring at the water. They said there was a beaver nest there so I had a look. No Beaver but now I knew what to look for.

Beaver Nest

By coincidence they were going the same way I was. I was now heading across country with no tracks or markers for nearly 3km and did not think this would be a common route. However this group (Hester, Eelke, Lidewy and Sarah) was pretty adventurous and had just gone cross country through the National Park that I had decided to take roads around because it looked very steep and they confirmed it was.
I decided to stay with them for a little while to have the novelty of walking with people, only the second time this whole trip. They were taking a slightly different route choice than I was going to because they trusted that a small track marked on the map would be there and I did not trust that it would be there. However I was happy enough with their choice and stayed with them. It was nice to have some conversation.

We came to the first river and as it was 1300 decided to have lunch. Eelke offered for me to have some of their lunch as they were only 2 days from finishing their trip and I accepted. They were from the Netherlands and among other hikes had previously done the Kungsladen in Sweden and this time had spent 3 weeks walking from there and would be finishing in Snasa.
They have communal meals and Lidewy is the cook. She had been soaking rice and something I cannot pronounce while walking and mixed this with soup and dehydrated vegetables to make a tasty dish. It was really nice having something different than my normal tortilla, cheese and salami. It was also a lot more filling.

Eelke showing the great Blueberry picking tool they bought

Lidewy working her magic

Yum!

Eelke, Sarah, Lidewy, Hester (left to right)

Bumble Bees attrated to the blue of my tent and pack

We crossed the river and then I moved on while they were putting their boots back on.

Now it was more cross country to get to the bridge over the river. I was actually using my compass, something I have seldom needed to do. I find my normal sense of direction which is really good in New Zealand is a little off here so I needed to correct my natural inclination. I followed a re-entrant to the river but it was full of cliffs and I could not get around the hill so I had too climb back up to get over the cliffs. Lesson learnt I went around the next hill before dropping nearer the river again. I briefly followed what may have been the marked track but it dropped to the river then became hard to travel on so I climbed back up and just followed animal tracks and eventually popped out on the gravel road right next to the bridge. While it was hard travel it was really fun having too find my own way in the trees. A bit more difficult navigation than Borgefjell which was all open.

Now it was walking on a gravel road for the next 12 km going under and over the railway line as it passed back and forward.

Where I thought the road became sealed it stayed dirt which I was happy with. When on dirt I an use my walking sticks so go faster and easier so I now had a bonus 5km on dirt. Once on the sealed road the sticks get put away so I am slightly changing how I walk which is why I get sore and tired quicker.

At the town of Agle the road turned to seal. I passed through the little town and then the road undulated past lots of farms. There had been no streams for quite a while and I was getting thirsty. I also knew I would be camping soon and needed water for that. I got to the last stream marked on the map and it was pretty horrible. One side was a sludge with a trickle of water and the other side had a bit more water but a horrible greenish brown colour. I was Just stating to filter some water when a lady came past walking her dog. I asked if there were any other streams around and she said there was one far away but she lived close and I could fill up at her house.

I walked with her back the way I had come for a few hundred meters then down a long drive. As we walked she told me her mother was an anthropologist and had spend a year in NZ studying the Maori. At the house her boyfriend and father were butchering a reindeer.
She invited me in and I started filling up my waterbottles. Then her mother came in and we started talking. We sat down and were talking about NZ, the trail, Maori and Sami. Then randomly she asked if I was hungry and as I am almost constantly hungry I said yes. She rushed off to the kitchen and then came back with a massive plate of a rice, mince, red bean and capsicum meal as well as some hard bread and cheese and a big drink of cordial. I did not think I would be able to finish it as it was so big but I did and it tasted great. They were busy cutting up the reindeer meet so I thanked them and left, very greatful for their great hospitality.