Survived the Dusky

So we made it out of the Dusky alive!  It was totally awesome but also the gnarliest hike that I have ever done.  It entailed seven days of walking through knee deep mud and rock/root climbing with our 50+ pound packs on.  New Zealand has yet to discover the wonder of cut backs to go up hills, instead they just go straight up or down the mountain.  The result is quite litterally having to climb up a vertical face.  Sometimes they give you a chain to use.  So as you can imagine the trail was pretty ridiculous and at times it would be a stretch to call it a trail at all.  This trail really made me appreciate the Hut system that they have here, because it rained pretty much every night and the there was not a dry place to set up a tent for probably a 100km.  Also the huts had fire places so that we could attempt to dry out our socks, but usually just ended up filling the hut with smoke.  You totally get a different feeling staying in huts as well.  You don't get that same feeling of being totally separated from society and the world as you do sleeping out every night.
The highlight of the trip, however would have to be swimming across a flooded river.  On the second night it rained ridiculously hard on us all night and the next day the river we had to cross was flooded.  We didn't know the extent to which it was flooded though.  We were walking through the bush so we couldn't see too far infront of us.  The water started out at our knees and then a couple more steps it was at our waists and then before we knew it, it was at out chests.  At this point we were at the point of no return.  Then from through the bush I hear Lucas yell "I'm swimming!"  So natually I laugh and keep going, then I too was swimming.  The curernt wasnt strong but it was there so it was sketchy and luckfully we had pack liners so our stuff was mostly dry and our packs floated somewhat.  The next thing that I hear is from behind me and it is Brice yelling "a fucking eel!" and I look back to see a probably 3 foot eel playfully harassing Brice, who doesn't  really know what to do with his limited range of movement.  We made it to the crossing wire which at this point crossed about half the river and was about 3 feet above the surface of the water and made it to the hut safely where there were 6 other people who were stuck there.
After all this I would still say that this was one of the prettiest and most epic hikes that I have ever done.  In the same day you would go from walking through rainforest to walking through alpine crossings above the tree line among giant granite boulders.  The scenery and landscape was absolutely unreal.

But I must admit that it really makes me appreciate hiking in the Sierras and realize how special a place they are.  I can't wait to get back out into them.

Since the Dusky didn't take us as long as we thought we have some extra time to do some other hikes before we get on bikes.  We are in Queenstown now figuring out our plan (one that involves less water) and will hopefully be off tomorrow.