I’d like to start with a big shout out to the team (Julian, Laressa, Alex, Yadgar, Katerina, Emma, The Shit Weasel, Mr Grey) for making the challenging but WONDERFUL weekend happen.

We did a loop from Mitre Flats Hut to Dorset Ridge Hut via Mitre Peak and Adkin, Middle King. Here is a chart made according to my timing:

Day	Route	Distance	Estimated Hours	Actual Hours
Friday	The Pines – Mitre Flats Hut	7 km	3-4 hours on Topo	2 hrs 40 mins
Saturday	Mitre Flats Hut – Mitre Peak – Dorset Ridge Hut	12 km	5-7 hours on Topo	10 hrs
Sunday	Dorset Ridge Hut – Adkin –  Middle King – A bridge close to Mitre Flats Hut – The Pines	18 km	12 hours by Julian	13 hrs 30 mins

The walk to Mitre Flats Hut was easy, we had a couple of detours as it was dark, but generally, it was smooth.

Saturday was the hardest day for me as my stomach burns all the time due to bad sleep at night. Also, we had many long breaks which slowed us a lot down.

I did better on Sunday, we only had 3 5-10 mins breaks as I could remember. I could do better if I haven’t twisted my ankle.

Glad to be with the best trampers as there are always new adventures and I always have a lot new to learn and experience.

This is not a Great Walk

I always beat the DOC estimated times for NZ Great Walks and some other walks but not this time.

First thing I learn from this trip is: as we go deeper/higher into the forest park, the estimated times will be harder to be defeated, which somehow makes sense because only people with reasonable fitness can make it, but most travellers can do Great Walks.

Wish I could know that earlier and make this trip easier. I mistakenly defined this trip as a trip which could be slightly harder than my recent ones so I didn’t optimize my packing: as usual, I brought a 400ml bottle of sun cream, a container of sake, many snacks and a huge power bank etc.

It surprised me when I noticed that no one expect me brings alcohol for this trip, that barely happens on my other tramps with them.

Drink water wisely

I have a bigger fluid intake than most people and had never considered it as a problem except for a big belly.

On Saturday, my 3L hydration pack ran out quickly and I had to drink from a lake on Dorset Ridge while waiting for water supply from the others. I tried to reduce the drinking frequency, the amount of water taken each time on Sunday, but I ended up running out of water again. I’ll be trying to drink less next time.

Always apply sunscreen

UV rays here are intense, always have sunscreen on!

I only applied sun creams once as I didn’t want to slow the others down and I thought that would be ok and the sunburn will recover after a couple of days as usual. Wrong again as I still have them 10 days after the trip and it hurts.

First time to sleep outside the hut

It’s my first time to sleep on the deck outside instead of on the bunk bed in the hut. It’s breathtaking that the stars were filling my eyes, but I didn’t sleep well on Friday.

Special thanks to Laressa for carrying my pack and not giving up on me all the way, lucky to have a PM covering my ass.

Thanks to Julian for having me on board, you proved again that you could be a nice person and you did come back looking for us.

Thanks to Alex for carrying my stuffs too, btw you surely can cook.

Thanks to Yadgar, Katerina and Emma for the encouragement and good company, sorry for keeping you wait.