I Never Want to Hear the Word Forest Again

I left Ahipara and headed away from the beach and into the forest. Finally it felt like real hiking. I was lucky and had an absolutely gorgeous day so I hiked late into the evening. Just before camp I ran back into my Swedish friend Martin and we decided to camp together that night. After an 11km road walk, we got to camp and set up. After walking on the pavement for so long my feet and joints ached. I remember lying awake hoping the pain would stop until I reluctantly drifted off to sleep. The next morning didn't look too good. I opened my tent to an incredibly overcast day and dew covering everything. It didn't help that when I read my trail notes it said we would be reaching the highest elevation in the northland and to expect clouds and rain. As we ascended the mountain the rain slowly started and got worse and worse with what seemed like every step. We left the road and entered the forest and were immediately struck with a mud puddle for a track. Trying to climb a mountain in the mud might be one of the most frustrating experiences I've had. We slogged through, trying to avoid the mud as much as possible. It was impossible. It seemed as though no one had been through here in years and the plants and trees closed in to where you were bush wacking. There were no views, only trees, and I began to feel incredibly claustrophobic, like I would never see the sun again. It was an 18km section until we would be out of the forest but the sign at the beginning said it would take us about 8 hours. I thought that was impossible. There was no way that it could take us that long, we were both strong hikers. My water bottle was ripped out of my side pocket by a branch that I swore at and as I stepped down to pick it up, I shot mud all over the mouthpiece. Great. Four hours in, after smacking my head on branch after branch that was hidden by my rain hood, slipping and falling all over the place, and reinjuring my shoulder and hip, my positive attitude had dissappeared. This was hard and I couldn't help but dwell on how miserable I felt. I was completely covered in mud up to my ass and the rest of my body was soaked from the rain. I remember mentioning to Martin that if it was really going to take us four more hours, I was going to kill myself. Suddenly I took a step and half of my leg was gone in the mud. I pulled up and felt the strap on my heel slip off. Shit. I was about to lose my shoe. In a panic, I rolled up my sleeve and plunged my hand into the seepy mud. Looking back, I should have chosen the hand without my watch on it. I grabbed a strap and ripped upwards as my shoe, and a few pounds of mud, flung out of the ground. I sat there for a moment not knowing what to do with my mud covered shoe that wouldn't fit on my foot or my now mud covered arm. Many explitives later, I got my shoe back on. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do for my hand. We kept moving. I could feel my shoulder swelling but I had to keep using it to keep myself upright and to help on the steep muddy slopes. The pain made me nauseous and all I could think of was getting out of this forest forever. Seven and a half hours later we emerged to a deserted road so we had to road walk to the next road. Covered in blood and mud and completely soaked to the bone, we looked at our trail notes for what to do next. We were advised by some locals to not enter the area in wet weather due to the many river ford's in the next section that became very dangerous I'd the water level had risen. We were at a loss for what to do so we tried to clean ourselves up with baby wipes. A car came by and asked us if we needed a ride. We didn't know where we were going but we definitely needed a ride. They were on their way to Paihia, where I has stayed before starting the trail, so we went there. After a very long and hot shower and some pizza and beer, we were able to make a plan to slack pack north on the trail we had missed. We woke up the next morning to the most gorgeous day. I couldn't believe the drastic change in less than 24 hours. My positive attitude had returned and I was excited about the day. We crushed the miles fairly easily and got to where we could hitch back to Paihia. A private tour bus picked us up and we got to talking about what we were doing. Not only did he drive us all the way back to town, but he made a few stops on the way so we could see some waterfalls in the area that weren't on trail. Even taking us to his house that overlooked the falls. The day definitely revived my desire to keep going on this incredible journey. Tomorrow we take a ferry over to the next section of trail and keep heading south!