Day 60: Waiau Forks to West Sabine hut

We woke early, and packed tent. There was a heavy fog/low cloud and a light mist of rain. We had a little yarn with our camp mates who had made it to bed before we arrived last night. A mother and daughter, going SOBO. Then proceeded to our steep 700 m climb up to the Waiau pass, made less intimidating by the fact that we couldn't see too much further than our noses.

The climb was slow and technical enough to not be too hard on the cardio. The fog kept the sun off of us, which we had suffered from the last couple of days. All in all it was quite a pleasant experience. The cloud was thinning a bit as the day went on and we were able to see a little further. The pass had a real mystic feeling to it.

The trail slowly turned into a four-limbed scramble, there was a stretch of about 100–200 vertical meters of rock face to crawl up. A very different and exciting stretch that was quite unlike anything we'd had before. We were thankful to be going NOBO for this stretch, as we had a lot of fun going up. I can't imagine it would be as pleasant coming down this section.

The cloud was showing signs of breaking as we neared the top of the pass.

The track flattened out just before the top, and we reckoned if we stopped for lunch on the pass the cloud cover would evaporate and we'd get some spectacular sights.

Peeking over the pass the northern side was nearly completely absent of clouds, and the south side was actively breaking apart. We timed our climb to perfection, cool up, and a view at the top—we could not have hoped for better. The view down  from the pass to the steep drop off to Lake Constance was one of the most breathtaking of the whole trail. A perfect spot for lunch indeed. We stopped and busted out the cheese and crackers. Fifteen minutes later we saw a group of three ladies crest over the sharp drop-off from the northern side. TA section walkers. One of them was approaching 80 years old. No mean feat to make it up here at that age. We talked with them for awhile as they too sat to break out lunch. We played photographer for one another then set off down toward Lake Constance.

There was some 300 m or so of elevation to lose across a shear scree slope. An absolute blast in places where the texture was just right to get a rolling slide on down the hill. This reinforced to us how much better it is to do this pass in the north bound direction. Fun climb up, fun slide down. An entirely opposite experience would be expected in a southward direction.

We reached the shores of Lake Constance to find that the trail sends you back up 200 m or so on the western range to get over the moraine and down to Blue Lake. Unexpected climbs are always frustrating, though we were given great views in trade.

Finally the climb stopped at what felt like a rather arbitrary elevation, and we proceeded back down some more scree to get over the moraine.

A short walk from there had us at Blue Lake. Those that aren't familiar should know that this was, last we visited it, the certified clearest known lake in all the world. A unique combination of having the high mountain Lake Constance, which is itself absurdly clear, further filtered through the few hundred meters of moraine cutting it off from Blue Lake produces this result. It is clearer even than Te Waikoropupū springs near Tākaka. Clear water, rather than being truly transparent looking, takes on an intense violet hue. The greens at this particular place contrast against the violet, and reflect off its surface and through from its bed to give a palette quite unlike anywhere else.

We stopped at the hut to have some dinner and stayed much longer than we should have, as we again found some more SOBOs to have a lengthy chat with. We set off around 18:00 to get down the river to West Sabine hut, in order to set ourselves up for an early morning 1100 m steep ascent up the Travers Saddle. From here through to St. Arnaud in a few days time we would be walking on track we'd already covered before. But it's a lovely track to get to do again. We never thought we'd get out to Blue Lake again in our lives, but here we are. More fortunate than most.

West Sabine hut was, predictably, very busy when we arrived around 19:45. It's a bit of a hub for a series of popular options out here in the gorgeous Nelson Lakes. A baker's dozen other people were already there before us. We were sorely tempted to pitch tent, but couldn't find a suitable spot in the immediate area. A hot, and noisy night in the hut it would be then. We would find a litany of sites a few hundred meters north of the hut on our trail in the morning, and regretted not searching wider.

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