Te Araroa: Pelorus River and Richmond Range

Our last two sections on the Te Araroa were a 3-day stretch on the Pelorus River and a 6-day trek through the Richmond Range.

The Pelorus was lush, green, and reminded me of the river valleys back on the Olympic Peninsula. Day 1 was rainy enough that rain gear eventually stopped keeping us dry. The rain always brings out the green and makes the forest glow in a special kind of way that you don’t get on a dry, sunny day.

We stayed along the riverside for most of this stretch but were treated to our first taste of the high country halfway through. In classic fashion for us, we decided we couldn’t leave the mountain views as the sun began to set and decided to pitch the tent in the only flat spot we could find in the area.

We stopped in Nelson for a quick resupply before heading up into the Richmond Range. This is a notoriously difficult section of the TA and we had 6 consecutive hard days with few moments where we weren’t out of breath. The views were worth it.

We spent a couple of the nights in the huts provided by the Department of Conservation when weather was less than ideal for tent camping.

We summitted Little Rintoul and Mt. Rintoul halfway through. The first summit of Little Rintol treated us to great views of the surrounding valleys. The higher summit was socked in and windy and we were glad to make it off the mountain before heading to our next camp.

We headed back down to the bottom of the river valley for a challenging section of steep, narrow trail following a beautiful turquoise river that was hard to pay too much attention to as we struggled over wet rock and slippery roots. We had 8 river crossings on this stretch so my camera stayed in my bag just in case things got wetter than planned.

The landscape took a drastic turn from lush, green river valley to red rock hills as soon as we climbed out of the valley. We walked from a rainforest into a desert in a matter of minutes. Ferns were replaced by scrub brush and we left shiny turquoise stones for arid red rock.

We crested the saddle descended deep into the Red Hills region. We couldn’t believe how quickly the landscape changed before our eyes.

Sunlight danced across the red hills as we ate dinner at camp.

We made our way into St. Arnaud to pick up a box of supplies we’d mailed ahead to ourselves, eat a burger and pizza, and get some rest before we head out to Nelson Lakes in the morning. Thanks for following along, I’ll post another update next chance I get!