bookin' it up mt. cook

So far each time I return from an adventure I post my pictures and think 'hah! this is my best album yet, these pictures can't be topped!'.  And so far i have been proven wrong each time.  First it was Tunnel Beach and then the Catlins and now Mt. Cook National Park.  So I present you with (in my opinion) the best album yet.

Lucille at the base of the Southern Alps

my first sighting of Mt. Cook

This past weekend was nothing short of amazing.  We headed out on Friday afternoon to see Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in the southern alps, and therefore also New Zealand.  It's about a 5 hour drive northwest from Dunedin but that time is nothing when you're driving through this kind of scenery.  We stopped by the Moeraki Boulders in Oamaru on the way.  These are basically some rocks along the beach that are really really round, naturally so.  They were cool but we stopped at high tide so we couldn't easily stand on them or anything.  After that we continued on our way.  We arrived in Mt. Cook National Park about mid evening and the weather couldn't have been much worse.  It was a whole lot colder than Dunedin and ridiculously windy and it was sideways-raining, hard.  Our initial plan was to sleep in my tent but it was really really wet already and so we temporarily scrapped the idea of setting it up and found the campground shelter that has bathrooms and picnic tables and some countertops/sinks for making meals - basically a pavilion with walls.  There were a bunch of other hikers in there to get out of the weather as well.  We made dinner (tacos) and continued to hope that the weather would clear for Saturday when we planned to hike the Mueller Hut Route.  By the time we were ready to sleep (about 9 pm - mom, be proud!) the rain was still sideways and the wind was howling and we were pretty much thinking that there's no way we're going out to set up the tent in that.  So we slept on the floor of the shelter for the night.  The next morning we woke up before the sunrise (goal = to see the sun on Mt. Cook) and I sat up, looked to my right, and BAM - snowy mountain peaks filling the entire window.  The sight was so fantastic and I was still in my sleeping bag, still on the floor of the shelter.  My first thought was that God is so good; our prayers that all of the bad weather would be expended on Friday night and that we could have a clear day on Saturday were answered, and then some.  We packed up and loaded the car with the intention of driving somewhere to see the sun on Mt. Cook, which we had yet to see at all by this point.  We drove for a few minutes and turned off at the sign that read "Tasman Valley".  Keep in mind that we were pretty much guesstimating this entire time as to where Cook actually was.  We pulled off the side of the road beside a big field of rocks (and I mean a BIG field, much longer than it looked) and started walking towards the ridge, thinking that if we went far enough in that direction we could maybe see Cook.  Well, someone's instincts were right and indeed we did see Cook, after walking a considerable distance.  The guys in our group were up ahead and running towards the river that flowed through the valley (little did I know a this point where this river was coming from, but in their running they had figured it out) so we followed, figuring that there must be some reason why they were in a hurry.  And boy, was it worth the rush.  I arrived at the far-off ridge and smack in front of me was a glacial lake and THE Tasman Glacier.  This is the funny part: each one of us had read up on Mt. Cook National Park and we talked in the car on the ride up about how if we had enough time we'd like to figure out where the Tasman Glacier is and go to see it.  And yet it did not occur to any of us that morning when we followed the "Tasman Valley" sign that maybe we might run into the Tasman Glacier...go figure.  Give us a break, it was before 7 am!

Tasman Lake, Mt. Cook in the upper left, Tasman Glacier in the center, far away

After taking loads of pictures of the beauty of the sun shining on Cook, the Tasman Glacier, River, and Valley and just sitting in awe of God's creativity and majesty we finally made our way back to the car.  We stopped by the visitor center to pay our hut fees (for where we'd stay Saturday night) and were back to the campground for breakfast.  A little before mid-day we began our hike up the Sealy Tarns Track, which then leads to the Mueller Hut Route.  The sun was shining and the day could not have been more beautiful for us.  We later found out that this was one of the best days of weather for the area; often visitors can't see Mt. Cook at all, but we could see it plain as day.  Now, I've never climbed a real mountain before and definitely not with a heavy pack, so this was quite the experience.  The route proved to be a lot more difficult than I'd anticipated; the slope was steep the entire way up and the whole second half was loose rock and lots of scree.  Although I wasn't in as good of shape as I'd have liked to be and my pack was really heavy and this was one of the most difficult things I've ever done it was a really good experience - both a mental and a physical challenge, a knock on my pride, and a humbling lesson.  It was a really great mix actually, learning more humility while at the same time standing in awe of God's creation all around me.  I couldn't feel sorry for myself when, every time I'd stop for a break, I'd turn around and get a face full of mountain peaks, glacial valleys, lakes, rivers, and fields.

view behind me as i hiked up the Mueller Hut Route

me hiking up the ridge with Cook in the background

The whole time we were hiking up the mountain we were aiming for a ridge, way off in the distance.  Well, actually it never looked that far off until you searched for the orange signs that mark the route and realized that you couldn't even see the ones near the ridge.  But we did finally make it up there, and oh man, that hike was so worth it and then some.  The picture I've just previously posted on this blog is me standing on top of the highest part of that ridge...I know, right?!  Fun fact: I've always secretly wanted to have a picture of me backpacking on a ridge with a huge mountain in the background - I think this will do!  We took lots of pictures, ate a late lunch, and just basked in the sunshine and beauty of everything around us.  From there it was a half hour trek farther up to the Mueller Hut.  The hut was actually nicer than i expected it to be...it's not heated or anything but it's divided into a few different rooms and sleeps about 30 people.  The kitchen has gas stoves for cooking and a tap/sink outside on a big porch.  We chilled out in the evening (quite literally) and had some dinner and watched the sun set over the mountains.

me and Kailey

One thing that I love about camping/climbing/hiking/being outside in general is the type of connection you can have with others around you.  I've been pondering the reasons for why this is so in a paper for my Adventure Education class and I've come to the conclusion that it has most to do with being away from modern society, namely technology.  I know for me, I can think so much more clearly when I am away from my phone and computer.  While technology in and of itself is not bad I think our overwhelming dependance on it is, and I love that we have opportunities to take a break from all of that.  It was refreshing to get to talk to different people who were also staying in the hut on Saturday night.  Even though we all knew that we most likely wouldn't be seeing each other again it still felt as if the conversations we were having were somehow more meaningful, with more depth.  I think this is mostly reflective of the fact that we were totally engaged with one another, without the distraction of a tv, radio, or cell phone.  Sometimes I wonder what society would be like if everyone took a fast from their technology for a while and made an effort to have more face-to-face interactions.  I think it would be very different.

Kea

On Sunday morning we woke up before sunrise with the intention of hiking the rest of the way up Mt. Ollivier to see the sun rise over Mt. Cook, and we did climb up there at 6:30 am, but it was a no go on the sun...the fog was so thick that we couldn't see any farther than about 20 feet in front of us.  But another fun fact: Mt. Ollivier was the first mountain that Sir Edmund Hillary - the first one to summit Mt. Everest - climbed, way back in 1939.  We sat up there for maybe 45 minutes and then finally faced the fact that the sun was not going to penetrate the fog.  We climbed back down Ollivier and got some breakfast before packing up to head back down to the village.  In the meantime I was hanging around on the porch with a few other people when a kea flew up and landed on the railing beside us (Jodi, the zoom lens was amazing for this!! Super glad i decided to lug it all the way up the mountain).  This was a great moment of excitement because we'd been hoping to see some kea this weekend but hadn't yet up to this point.  Kea are a type of parrot, they look just like what you think of when you hear 'parrot' except for colors, they're mostly brownish/green, with some bright orange underneath their wings.  They are quite funny animals too...they vie for attention and love shiny things.  So, the bunch of us out on the porch provided the attention, and the stainless steel counter-top and big mixing bowl in the sink functioned as shiny.  It wasn't long before several others came along too and there were 3 or 4 kea all hopping around outside the hut.  I think my favorite kea episode was when one decided he wanted to take the mixing bowl with him (think big bowl, maybe 2 foot diameter).  He would look at us, hop down to the level of the counter and then latch his beak onto the side of the bowl, only to drop it, be startled by the clamoring of it falling back into the sink, and then he would look at us and loudly squawk is if it was our fault that the bowl had made so much noise.  He did this same thing over and over again, until either our attention became less intriguing or the appeal of the bowl's shininess started to wear off.  Either way, very entertaining.

A while later we began our descent back down the mountain.  I had been looking forward to going back down, thinking that it wouldn't be nearly as difficult as climbing up.  And i wasn't totally wrong...but I'd say that they are both incredibly tough in different ways.  Descending this steep slope for 3 hours really wears on the leg muscles, and on Monday/Tuesday i felt like i was about 90 years old.  Wow i was sore.  I was just amazed as we passed by a senior citizen couple who had hiked the same track we did and were also on their way down.  If my 21 year-old joints were complaining I can't imagine what they were feeling like!  I really hope I am active like that when I get older.

Mt. Cook and the perpetual cloud

We reached the bottom in a bit less than three hours and were on our way back to Dunedin.  I drove the whole way back, though when I started out I figured out that I would need someone to take over for me.  Turns out that driving long distances isn't so bad when you're traveling through the most beautiful country in the world.  For all who are wondering, Lucille is a trooper and she was fantastic this past weekend, no problems at all!  And Leonard also had a really great time climbing with us - he is one stud of a llama.  Be sure to check out his updated album.  Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers - I've been missing home a lot more lately and it is so comforting to know that I have a network of people who are loving and caring for me.  You're all wonderful!

our dear Leonard