Frosty and full
of stars up in the sky when getting up at 5:30. Inversion layer occurred and it
turned to low cloud hanging all over at 7:30 when started.
Was going over the
hill today after 4 days, and uphill started after a while. When walking through
mountain beech forest and coming out of the forest line at 10:30, clouds were
at my feet and spotless blue sky was above me. As far as I remember, an
inversion layer occurs when chilly air lowered down to the ground and topped
with a layer of warm air. Must be cold like a fridge under the cloud and was
lucky it happened today, not yesterday.
Didn't know much about the track I was
gonna walk today and honestly didn't expected anything exciting, but was a
pleasant walk indeed: mountains were rough & majestic and beech forest was
soothing. Both sides of East Ahuriri river of south of the pass was covered by
just scree. Looked unique, and made me wonder at geology of the area.
At last,
came to Ahuriri river, the largest river needed to walk across on the TA trail of the
South Island. Safely walked across a hip-deep river twice - gave a sigh.
Sun set over the
mountain at 17:00 when coming to the grass land having climbed up steep cliff
on the other side of the river. My tent and sleeping bag were damp by the frost
this morning and condensation overnight, and my legs got drenched by river
crossings. Wanted to get them dry but had no choice. Pitched and slipped into
the tent and had a warm drink. Seemed to be cold again tonight. Went to bed at
22:00. Walked 9.5 hours, 28.5km.
5:30に起きた時には霜が降り空は満天の星空だったが、その後逆転層が生じ雲が湧いて出たらしく、7:30に出発した時には一面低い雲が垂れ込めていた。
今日は4日ぶりに山越えの日で、歩き出してしばらくすると上り坂になり、10:30にヤマブナの森を抜け森林限界の上に出た時には、雲は眼下になり、上空は快晴の青空になっていた。逆転層は、確か、地上近くに冷気が入り込み、その上に温かい空気の層が乗った時に発生する仕組みだったと思うが、きっと眼下の雲の下は冷蔵庫のように寒いことだろう。発生したのが昨日でなく今日でラッキーだった。
実は今日の登山道についてはあまり予備知識がなく、大して期待していなかったのだが、山々は雄大で荒々しく、ブナの森も気持ちよくとても楽しく歩けた。峠の南側、東アフリリ川沿いの両側の山肌が、どんな地質なのかガレ場ばかりなのもユニーク。そして最後に南島のTAコース上で徒渉が必要な川としては最大のアフリリ川の徒渉があり、腰下位の深さを2度渡り、ホッと胸を撫でおろした。
対岸の急峻な崖を登って草地に出たのが17:00で、ちょうど山の向こうに日が沈んでしまった。昨夜の結露や今朝の霜でテントや寝袋が濡れており、それ以上に自分自身が下半身ずぶ濡れなので乾かしたかったのだが仕方がない。テントを張って潜り込み、温かい飲み物で暖を取る。今夜も冷え込みそうだ。22:00就寝。本日の歩行9.5時間、28.5km。
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