Shanti reports…

Mum was on the computer researching nearby places we could walk to for our next adventure and she found one from Loburn, following and crossing rivers for quite a way before branching off to Pinchgut Hut. A fairly ominous name, hopefully not a forboding for gut rot… but let me stick to the trail tail (that’s a deliberate choice not an error Editor Mum).

We did okay following directions to the track, but finding the correct parking space was hit and miss. That said it wasn’t too long before we were at the ford and crossing thigh-deep water. Mum decided she didn’t fancy the shallower rocky crossing and went through a deep part of the Okuku River. I liked it. It was good to cool down - it was a hot day.

The route sidles through forest, then drops down to the Whare River where we had some scrambling over rocks and boulders making our way along the river bed before another short climb in a forested section and then - the hut.

What a disappointment. MI arrive at my first hut and then - only then - Mum tells me that dogs are not allowed in the huts. Unbelievable discrimination!

I mean why did we walk for about three-to-four hours to a hut if we can’t even have a sniff inside?

Then we had a photoshoot with our recently acquired Mountain Dog Challenge bandanas from Further Faster. Can you tell that I still have my unimpressed face on? Not allowed in the hut, ppfft.

Mum was pretty quiet on the trip back. She guessed the weather wrong and had dressed for frosts and cold, only to find it was fairly warm, and she went to bed with a sore head. I pretended to be tired and rested with her - it had nothing to do with the 12km walk! And thankfully there were no gut-wrenching tails to emerge post trip. That hut name is a misnomer, although I’m still peeved that dogs aren’t allowed in trail huts. That is a gut wrencher.