Day 19: Finishing the Timber Trail
March 16th 2014
Distance cycled: 57 km
Total distance to date: 1019 km
Whoa, I broke the 1000 km mark today! Hooray! It must have been around the time on the trail today when I saw that mountain goat.
Yes, I saw a mountain goat today! It was on the trail with its kid. I wasn't sure what to do. All other animals I've seen up until this point have either been birds or behind a fence. The goat had big horns and I was afraid it would try to maul me if I got between it and its young. I waited to see if it would go away. It didn't. I tried going up a side track to see if I could bypass it, but the side track met up with the main one right where the goat was standing.
So I waited and watched the goats as they grazed. Then they started off down the trail, but the mama goat saw me and stopped. There was a stare-down between me and mama goat. Then she started walking in my direction. Crap.
I turned my bike around, preparing to bust back up the hill if need be. I'm not fast on any hill with all the gear I have, and this one was steep and rocky. But before I took off, I looked back. The goats were gone. Either they had disappeared into the woods, or they were hiding in wait just around the curve of the path to ambush me.
I wasn't taking any chances. I picked up a big dead fern leaf, ready to yell and wave the fern menacingly as I charged by on the bike. Turns out there was no need for any of that. Both goats were gone. I guess they were as scared of me as I was of them. Still, I was glad I was going downhill. I went a bit faster than my usual pace for a kilometer or so, just to make extra sure.
Here's a picture of one of the swing bridges, as promised. This one is the longest on the trail. Actually it's one of the longest in the whole country. The other two photos are of the view in either direction from the bridge.
And here's a photo of the little red trail shelters. They must be new because they are spotlessly clean (unlike the one I'm staying in tonight). An identical one was my home last night:
I stopped in this one to eat lunch around 1:30pm. Didn't need the shelter, as the rain had finally stopped, but I wanted to sit and take off my wet shoes. But about 15 minutes after ducking in, it started raining again. Then the heavens opened up and it started pouring. Torrential rains, I tell you. It didn't seem like it would ever let up and I was anxious to have to bike in it - I had just started to feel dry again after a wet morning. But thankfully the rain reduced itself to a light drizzle after about 10 minutes of steady downpour. Here's the view from the shelter during the downpour:
Those puddles hadn't been there 10 minutes prior to taking this photo!
Since it was so rainy today, I didn't take many pictures. Too bad because there were some stunning views. The sun would even peek out once in a while - just long enough for me to take off my rain gear. Then it would disappear and let the rain take over again. Ha ha! Silly sun playing tricks on me.
Another photo-worthy thing today was the Ongarue Spiral. It was a tunnel that was used in logging here. Actually most of the trail today followed an old bush tramline used for logging. There were lots of remains of old work camps and little plaques explaining the history of it all. It was all closed down by 1958.
It was a long day! I was up before 8. The wind blew down my rainfly from the door frame around 7am. I put it back up but the wind knocked it down again, so I figured it was time to start my day. And I only had one coffee all day! A Nescafé instant coffee made from boiled rainwater, to go with my breakfast of instant oats with trail mix. I'm not complaining - it was nice being alone in the woods all day, but I definitely missed my mid-day coffee break!
Anyway, it's 9pm now, I'm in my tent which I've set up in this visibly older, cobwebby shelter at the trailhead, and I'm exhausted from today's ride and ready to call it a night. There's a German couple staying in their campervan in the parking lot here, and they've invited me for coffee in the morning, but only if I can make it by 7:30 since they have to leave early. So it's bedtime for me!
Tomorrow is St. Patricks Day, so I'll have to find a Guinness somewhere around these parts. And write my brother for his birthday. Happy Irish Day, friends!
posted by Kyla @ 17:00
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