song of the open road

i decided that this last week was going to be the week of the song of the open road. so i printed a copy off the internet and planned to read it once a day for a week. figured that would give me plenty of opportunity to digest...

i think a long weekend might have been enough, because a week is a long time to keep reading the same 200-odd lines. but i REALLY like it, even after a whole week of it.

check it out:
http://www.bartleby.com/142/82.html

and send me any other good reading suggestions...

14 feb 2006

another pretty good day. managed to be out for most of it, always a good sign...

got back this afternoon and noticed an unusual number of hutties using the outside sinks. a brief investigation revealed that the water tanks were low and therefore the tap in the hut wasn't working, so decided to remedy that by topping up tanks from reserve tank. we have a pump to do this, but using it involves about a dozen steps - hooking up giant unruly hoses, priming pump, winding cord, then pulling it while all levers are in correct position, easing off the choke, blah blah blah. i'm pretty sure i could operate the thing, but wasn't really up for a "bethany vs the pump" show since i had about a dozen hutties hanging around. so i opted for the brute force method - buckets. dip bucket into underground reserve tank, carry 5 steps to bench. set bucket on bench, climb up to bench. heave bucket from bench to water tank platform, then climb onto platform. lift bucket and dump water into tank. back down to bench, then to ground, and repeat. past hut wardens had indicated that this inevitably resulted in a few hutties pitching in to pass buckets and a bit of a laugh. surely a better option...

of course i was not so lucky. the hutties were curious, no doubt. "where is that water coming from?" "why do you have to do that?" "is that hard work?" (YUP. when was the last time you helfted buckets of water around?) one particularly annoying german girl stood over me, eating her apple and asking questions like she didn't even notice i was doing anything... "do you know where the nearest supermarket is?"... 30 minutes later the tanks we full again, the taps were working, and i feeling disturbingly hostile toward the assembled crowds.

luckily, i recovered in time for my evening film session. you see, it turns out that i had 3 guys staying with me tonight who are filming a documentary on the park/mtns/track for a korean broadcasting company series, "sunday night documentary: mountains". no kidding. airs every sunday night at 12mid, apparently. on kbc1. i think they have at least an hour of me on camera - giving the evening hut talk, making them hot cocoa, turning my solar powered lantern on and off by remote control... the whole works. i'd love to hear what i sound like dubbed over in korean...

13 feb 2006

sunshine! clear blue skies! woohoo!!

took off first thing this morning, not willing to waste a bit of the fine weather. climbed up and around on a big rocky ridge that forms one side of the valley all morning... great stuff.

got back in time for a late-ish lunch and did chores around the hut, then settled in for a little afternoon nap. woke up almost 2 hours later (eek!) to find the hut positively swarming with people. 6 total in the past 3 nights, and 19 in tonight. go figure.

really fun crew, though. lots of good craic. just watched an incredible moon-rise through the few low clouds... which reminds me... woke up this morning to bright light shining in my face... sunrise! i've been hoping for a sunrise over the mountains at the top of the valley... rubbing eyes, trying to wake up... wait, it's only 5a... look again - that's not the sun going up but the moon going down! just putting off so much light it woke me up... unbelievable.

12 feb 2006

rain, wind, rain, cloud, wind, rain... spent pretty much all day holed up in the wardens quarters with my book. too anti-social (and napping, dammit) to visit with the lunch-time visitors. quiet afternoon, though. VERY quiet. as in NO ONE showed up. cabin fever setting in... and then, just before 630p radio call...

hark! is that a human voice i hear? instinctively, i leapt to the window. and was totally busted! gave a wave to the couple coming over the ridge, but fear that only contributed to the crazy-in-the-cabin image. radio call was imminent, no time to save face... but my explanation later must have worked, because i spent the rest of the evening visiting with a very cool american couple.

this is shaping up to be a very long week with my book. am also going to have to start rationing food soon - cooped up consumption level is even more than i anticipated...

11 feb 2006

yup, it was a wet one. rain gauge confirmed with 105mm this morning (that's just over 4 inches for the metrically challenged).

still wet and windy this morning, so it was a slow start for me.
11a - a bit of blue sky! it was gone by the time i blinked, but just enough to motivate me. i'll just tidy up around the hut before i head out...
1140a - ready to go... and raining again. not up for another soaking, so it's back to my book.
1230p - rain has stopped! i'll just eat a quick lunch and then take off...
1245p - nevermind. rain has resumed.

repeat this convenient little pattern for most of the afternoon... finally did get out for a couple of hours, though. followed the river down the valley next to the hut, which was very cool. decided to come back via the ridge... far less cool. lots of rough bush that looked deceptively like innocent tussock. poor, scratched legs...

only one in the hut tonight. shaping up to be a very quiet week...

10 feb 2006

it wasn't raining just when jimmy picked us up at the house today, so i optimistically packed my rain gear inside. easily accessible near the top, but inside nonetheless... the break in the weather held until about 15 seconds after we got out of the truck at the trailhead. and those 15 seconds were the longest break i had from the rain for the rest of the day...

the walk in to oturere was a bit more adventurous than i had anticipated - creeks that i had hardly noticed as i stepped across them a couple of weeks ago were now formidable crossings. i got halfway across one and had to retreat and find a better place to ford - a little too reminiscent of the sierras on the pct... i was also lugging the heaviest pack i can remember carrying... seven days worth of food (GOOD food, not backpacking food) plus over 5 kg of hut provisions that just happened to need restocking on my shift plus... i don't know, but it was freaking heavy.

anyway, i rolled in a little after 5p, so it was only 3 1/2 hours. and now i have a roof and walls and best of all... a heater. i was too tough to actually fire up the heater last week when it was cold at ketetahi but there was no hesitation today... i'm feeling very fond of it tonight.

only 3 in the hut tonight, but 2 are from portland! visited for awhile tonight, but they just arrived in nz 2 days ago so are still adjusting and a bit sick... ohwell.

07 feb 2006

7p and i am KNACKERED.

the thermometer read 2C when i woke up this morning - that's like 36F... BRR! planned to meet cameron and arran at otorere for lunch and do some track work on the way... set out shortly after morning radio call at 815a. about 45 min into the plan, though, i realized that cameron had missed morning radio call. and while that probably meant he had overslept, it could mean that he was dead. and i was cleaning track instead of hustling over to discover his body. so i abandon track work and got there as quickly as i could, lugging a pulaski with me. still had an hour and a half of walking time to imagine all the scenarios under which he was ailing/dead... along with my own deep flesh wounds that a pulaski might inflict when i fell on it, after slipping and landing on it while rushing to get there. but alas, i arrived unharmed to find cameron alive and well and cleaning his hut (had been distracted by breakfast earlier).

we had pancake lunch and hung out for awhile. then arran headed back to waihohonu and cameron and i set off up the otorere valley. did a little bouldering on the way back... which was really fun but i totally spent my arms (as amateur unskilled climbers do)... and then had a 2hr walk back, still carrying the freaking pulaski. began to resent taking it on a tour of half the park, beings that i had used it for all of about 10 minutes, and that was hours ago.

also collected loads of nasty rubbish today. i've taken to carrying small plastic bag with me everywhere because there is always something to pick up. it wasn't even like i was LOOKING for rubbish; i was just picking up whatever i saw along the track. apple cores, tissues, cigarette butts, tissues, more tissues... the supreme NASTY award was given out twice today... when i found used tampons . right along the track. WTF?! lesson learned: beware of the large rocks near the track. yeech. there's a good use for the pulaski...

finally got around to doing some track work. maybe an hour or so of clearing culverts and cutouts... by about 430p i was almost back to the hut... but i had seen a pinus contorta the other day (non-native, invasive species of pine tree so we remove them if found) and carried the saw to remove it. it was only about 10 min off-track so i found my way back to it. and began what developed into an epic battle. it looked small, but turned out to be a very worthy opponent for my little handsaw. 40 minutes later, it was finally felled. and i had a pair of shiny new blisters on my hand. whew.

finally made it back, have eaten everything in sight, and am ready to just crash.

heading out in the morning... can't decide if i'm ready or not.

06 feb 2006

brrr. it was cold and really windy this morning so i wasn't too motivated to head out... spent most of the morning doing some intensive cleaning in the two bunk rooms. amazing what can has accumulated in the cracks around the bunks... oh yeah, and i embarked on what must be the worst task of a hut warden. deconing the toilets. eehhheww... just the word makes me shudder now. use your imagination if you must, but i assure you it was traumatic. i thought i had taken on some pretty disgusting things in the past, but i think that now tops all.

about 3p, i had just decided that i should head out for a little while when it started raining... so i put the kettle on again and spent the rest of the afternoon reading with a hot cuppa in hand.

low point of the afternoon: a daywalker brought me a rainjacket abandon on the porch, concerned about the "valuables" in the pocket. i dutifully investigated and found not wallet and keys but muesli bar and candy. very valuable, indeed. especially on a cold afternoon when one is 4 days into their 5-day food supply. so i put them back in the pocket and put the jacket on my little pile of lost property in the quarters. and there it stayed for... about 15 minutes. and then i caved. i was just refilling my cup of tea... and something sweet would complement it so nicely... it was an apricot and chocolate muesli bar and LICORICE.... almost like they picked it out just for me. a small token of appreciation for my carrying their jacket out for them, i reckon.

05 feb 2006

another FANTASTIC day. slept in until 740a; chris knocked on my door at 745... with the jacket i had left at otorere yesterday so that was pretty sweet.

he helped me clean the toilets and then we went off-track to check out te mari crater. ended up climbing way higher than we needed to, but had some great views down into the crater from the ridge. picked our way down to the rim of the crater, but didn't venture in since chris was short on time. got back to ketetahi, had pancake lunch (divine, if i do say so myself), and saw chris off. hung out among the hordes of daywalkers on the porch for about 10 minutes before i couldn't take it anymore and headed off again myself.

decided to check out north crater - another off-track adventure. scrambled up a dry creek gully to this hugely expansive FLAT round area with lots of scattered rocks but little else. and a smallish crater near one edge. walked around for awhile, practiced my poi, just sat and admired the view...

another deck night at ketetahi... got back just as the last of the daywalkers were passing by... settled in and spent the rest of the evening chatting with the hutties, watching the sun set, etc...

04 feb 2006

i LOVE life as a hut warden! had a good crew in last night but they were all away early this morning so i finished tidying up and was out myself by about quarter past 9. headed over to otorere to meet up with chris and jen... only took 2 hours to get there so that was a nice surprise. and i finally saw the crossing! well, 1/2 of it anyway... when we did that walk during orientation all i saw was cloud. it's gorgeous! took a detour to the top of red crater on my way back... views to kill. took loads of photos...

after lunch at otorere, chris and jen helped me make a set of poi. basically tennis balls on string that you spin... eventually you can graduate to fire poi but i think that'll be awhile for me... got an introductory lesson from jen before we both had to head back to our own huts for the evening.

checked the track counter when i got back... showed about 600 across today, but i only saw about 10 daywalkers... a very good day!

03 feb 2006

back into the park, this time to ketetahi hut, which is right on the crossing (literally. the track goes across the porch). dropped off at the carpark at 1p, i was heading upstream during peak daywalker hours. so i decided to count. hit 100 in less than 25 minutes, 199 at the 1h mark, 281 passed when i got to the hut (1h 50m). that's 1 daywalker met every 15 seconds at the start, and every 25 seconds on average for the whole trip. yikes.

good group in tonight, though, and the weather is fantastic so i spent most of the afternoon and evening sitting on the porch, admiring the endless views, watching the sun set and the stars come out in force...

the boring stuff...

the next 6 weeks or so of posts may make more sense with some boring background info, so here goes:

i'm working in tongariro national park, in the central north island. it's one of only about 20 places in the world that are dually recognized by UNESCO for both natural and cultural heritage. tongariro because of the unique volcanic environment and the sacred value of the area to the local maori.

the two main tracks in the park are the tongariro crossing - a one-day traverse of the mountains - and the northern circuit - a 3-day loop tour of the park. the northern circuit is one of 8 tracks in nz designated as a "great walk".

there are 4 huts along the northern circuit (ketetahi, mangetepopo, otorere, and waihohonu), and these are the huts we staff as hut wardens. the huts have bunks and campsites, toilets, water, gas cookers, etc. we basically take care of the huts and guests - cleaning, checking passes, basic maintenance, giving out information... we spend 5 days at a hut, then 2 in town, then back in to a different hut for 5 so that we rotate around the park.

ok, i think that's it. if there's anything else that you're dying to know.... umm... ask, i guess.

few photos from tongariro np

feral?

so jen, one of the other hut wardens here, has taken to calling me "feral"... but my only context for this is feral cats, which i generally regard as nasty animals. i mean, it's got to be bad when wisconsin creates a hunting season to control the population... me? feral? really??

so i decided to consult an authority on the subject. according to the american heritage dictionary:
fe·ral
adj.
a. Existing in a wild or untamed state.
b. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication.

well, at least it does't say anything about living in allies and eating trash and needing to be hunted. i think i can live with "untame".