St James Fastpack

Wow, I haven't written a post in over three years! I've been living in the UK and travelling for the past two years so haven't visited many backcountry huts for a while. I'm now living in the tramping paradise that is Christchurch and I have a backlog of adventures to write about and a list of places to visit a mile long!

My most recent adventure was to fastpack the St James Walkway in Lewis Pass. I've wanted to do this track for a very long time, but I didn’t have the leave to take the time off to walk it (its 68km long, walked over four days). With two perfect early March days on the agenda for the weekend, I decided to run (well, jog/ walk fast) it over a weekend.

Nice boardwalks at the start of the trail. They didn't last long

Crossing Cannibal Gorge

Day 1 – Lewis Pass – Anne Hut 38.5km

I started off around midday to blue skies and a perfect temperature of around 15 degrees. The track was brilliant, soft but not wet underfoot, and through pristine beech forest. I reached Cannibal Gorge Hut (10.7km in), after an hour and a quarter and sat down on the bench outside the hut to have some lunch. Little and often was my strategy for eating on this trip.

I set off to the next hut, Ada Pass, which was only 3.1km away, although a grunt up through some beech forest. There were a couple of guys here in for a day walk and they were quite chatty. I’d only seen two other groups so far that day so everyone was very friendly and glad of someone else to talk to.

Not long after Ada Pass, the beech forest finally gave way to open grass flats. The running was flat, but the trail was quite narrow and hard to see due to the long grass. The grass also hid ruts in the track, so I had to concentrate quite a bit and the running wasn't as fast as I'd hoped. It was quite hot by now and I was draining my water quite fast. I'd consumed three litres so far and it was a pretty exposed 11km to the next hut, Ada Cullers. 

This was fairly typical scenery on the open bits

I ran out of water about half an hour before I reached Ada Cullers Hut, but there was no water to be found at this hut! The next, Christopher Hut, was only another kilometre away thankfully. I reached the hut and its well-stocked water tank after a very parched jog. The water was gloriously ice cold and I devoured about a litre of it during my stop and filled up my pack. Interestingly, there were some horses behind a fence very close to the hut.This must have been the border with the St James Station. It was very tempting to stop here and spend the rest of the afternoon sitting out on the deck of Christopher Hut, reading and soaking up the fantastic view. 

Christopher Hut

However, I was behind schedule and I had a very long and flat 14km to run to reach my destination for the night. Initially rejuvenated after the cold water at Christopher Hut, I soon began to really feel the effect of running with an 8kg pack. At any indication of an incline, my run was reduced to little more than a shuffle. 

Finally, after 4 hours and 45 minutes and 38.5km of running I reached Anne Hut. There was a good bunch of people there for the night and we chatted away, eating and reading in between. Anne Hut was only built in 2011 and was spacious and warm with the fire going, and just as well, since I didn't bring a sleeping bag. 

Day 2: Anne Hut to Boyle Village 33.5km

I was surprisingly not sore when I woke up, something I was worried about completing two long runs back to back like this. After a light breakfast, I set out into the frost at 7.30am. It was cold, and the ice sliding down my legs from running through the long grass was something else! My shoes soon became covered in ice. To add to the wake up call, this was the wettest section of the track, with lots of small stream crossings and bog. My shoes were saturated and I just stomped through the puddles in the end. 

The theme of the morning

Dammit

It took a while for the sun to make its way down into the valleys and I was longing for a return to the sun of the previous days. The track had lots of small ups and downs with a mix of beech forest and river flats, though it was all uphill to Anne Saddle, the highest point of the track at 1136m. There was no one but me and flocks of noisy, startled geese.
After a couple of hours of muddy, rough tracks, the wide, open descent from Anne Saddle was very welcome.

Early morning - no bogs for a wonderful 50 metres

The track start and end points are 16km apart along the Lewis Pass road, so I dropped a bike off at the Boyle Village end, to ride back to my car at the end of the second day, which I would park at the Lewis Pass carpark up the road.

I reached Rokeby Hut at around 10am, just as the sun was starting to come into the valley and melt the frost. Time for a snack and to put some sunblock on.
The track was still quite boggy and rough in parts and progress was much slower than I'd hoped. Just after Rokeby Hut, I saw two people walking the Te Araroa, the only people I saw on the track that day.

Boyle Flats Hut came not long after - 17km in and just past the halfway point for the day. It's a wonderfully located hut, with a nice open grassy area out front and seats located by large windows to take in the fantastic view. The track from here was my favourite of the whole walkway - beautifully flowing descending track through beech forest. It was nice to have some speed after a slow morning. The water pipe at Boyle Flat was broken, so I did the side trip to Magdalen Hut (1.1km off the trail) to top up my water, and bag the hut. I ditched my pack in the bush and ran only with my water bottle. Such a luxury after running with the pack all weekend. It was fast and I loved it. The back was quite sore from the pack and I'd vowed to pack less and take lighter food next time. 

Magdalen Hut is located in a sunny clearing and is a comfortable and modern DOC hut. After drinking plenty of water and filling up my bottle, I ran back to my pack and set in for the final 9.5km grind to the carpark. I had a firm list of all the treats I was going to eat when I got back into town!

Magdalen Hut - This would be a lovely spot for the night

It was another warm, sunny day but thankfully the trail was all in the bush, although it had lots of small ups and downs and I'd long given up trying to run up them. I'd had enough.  

Finally, after 33km and 4.5hours, I reached the carpark and my bike. I hopped on, keen to get the 16km ride over with so I could relax in the car and get food that wasn't muesli bars, salami or chocolate raisins. 

My legs on the bike were fine, but my bike was a singlespeed (I didn't want to leave my expensive road bike parked out overnight), and my car was currently over 200m higher than where I was. And there was a headwind. Ugh. What seemed like tiny rises in the car became mammoth mountains on my singlespeed. I had to walk up a lot of the hills. I should have just hitchhiked - the road was busy enough. 

I reached the car, after doubling my McDonald's order on the ride, and revelled in the satisfaction of a having completed a great adventure and bagging nine huts.

My gear:

·         Headlamp

·         PLB

·         2L water bladder

·         750ml water bottle (in case the bladder burst)

·         100ml tube sunblock

·         Sun protecting lip balm

·         Gloves

·         Beanie

·         Long johns

·         Emergency blanket

·         Thermal top

·         Jersey

·         Small warm jacket

·         Rain jacket

·         Sleeping bag liner

·         Kindle

·         Plus running clothing (I wore this, no spares)

Food (1 lunch, 1 dinner, 1 breakfast and snacks)

·         Copious muesli bars

·         Chocolate raisins

·         Chocolate

·         Mandarins

·         Cherry tomatoes

·         Eggplant dip

·         Avocado

·         Crackers

·         Cheese

·         Boiled eggs

·         Gerkins

·         Chocolate biscuits

I don’t think I could have cut down on the gear (except the kindle – I would have been quite bored at the hut otherwise) – I wore all my layers at night and was still a bit chilly. The food, however, was far too heavy. I should have taken a very small pot and gas canister and dehydrated meals and only have taken the chocolate and muesli bar items from the list. This would have been much less bulky and far lighter. Every gram helps in this case.