Te Araroa Trail Day 9 – Puketi Forest
I started the day with a 7am skinnydip in the river… so cold it took my breath away! But what a start to the morning with the river to myself.
Everyone got up and after a quick breakfast we set off through the forest, sidling on a very steep riverside track. Everyone was tired today, and the steep sided track was an unexpected downer. We eventually reached a nicer path, but this led to an even steeper uphill section. I struggled and had to take lots of breathers.
Eventually we came to a formed 4 wheel drive track – which we nicknamed ‘the road of death’ due to the heavily laden possum traps along it’s length down both sides of the road.
Puketi Forest DoC Camp
We made good time, and were at the Puketi DoC camp at 2pm. It was a lovely flat grassy site with loads of space.
Today was a pretty easy day mileage-wise, but wow… we really need the rest. The forest sections have been really hard work on the body! We ate, chatted, ate more and had an early night. Anja and Markus and I have booked ourselves into a nice cabin as a treat tomorrow night for 2 nights and are looking forward to a well deserved rest day in Kerikeri.