25km Day : 972km Total
17 February 2015
-42.739876, 171.830151

For the majority of the day I hiked along the Hurunui River toward Harper Pass.  The terrain around the trail varied throughout the day including forest, grasslands and rocky fields.

Hurunui River

Sheep on the Grassy Flats

I reached Hut #3 around a quarter past eleven and decided to eat an early lunch since the hut would give me relief from the swarms of sand flies that invariably find me whenever i stop moving. 

As I was preparing to leave the hut, Ollie arrived and mentioned that he was planning to make a long day of it and hike to Kiwi hut.  My goal for the day was to just get to the other side of Harpers Pass and to stay at Locke Stream Hut.  After a little more discussion of the trail ahead I was back hiking. Ollie caught up and passed me near Harpers Pass Bivvy where I stopped to refill my water bottle and rest.

Inside Hut #3

When I was approaching Harpers Pass I was not too concerned since it was less than a 200m climb to the pass.  What I hadn’t taken into consideration was the steep 500m descent on the other side.  It was slow going down to Locke Stream Hut on a steep, rocky, rooty trail with many stream crossings.

View to West of Harper Pass

Lots of Stream Crossings

I reached the hut just before 6:30 with no energy left.  It is a large hut with many bunks and tonight I have the hut to myself, except for a large resident rat that is mentioned several times in the log book.

View from Locke Stream Hut