Out of Minghus-Deception

14.5km super sunny again.

Possibly my favorite day! The tramp up to goat hut was mostly climbing up boulders in the river, so it was slow going but quite a different challenge.

At one point, we were climbing up a bank behind a marker when the trail suddenly petered out at a stream. We scouted both up and down the stream and attempted to bush bash toward a ridge before returning to the marker defeated... it appears that it was just a dead end as the actual path just turned in an unexpected direction after the marker. It's pretty clear that quite a lot of takers make that same mistake!

Goat pass is lovely. The views from the hut are exceptional, and the path across its mostly board walk. It's pretty unusual for the passes to be that wide as well, and it was lovely walking across the alpine meadow (that smells so amazing) listening to keas calling in their natural habitat.

Coming down the other side there were a couple of good opportunities for swimming, which I took full advantage of. And the massive strippy dragonflies were out and about in the sun. Just an absolutely awesome day!Read more