MUD HOLES + BROKEN POLES

I have never felt so claustrophobic in such a beautiful place. The Herekino and Raetea forests were possibly more challenging than the everlasting 90 mile beach but in a very different way.

These forests are almost untouched by humans except for the small orange triangles you must look for to make sure you are still on the trail. Between the triangles, untrimmed trees + bushes grab at your feet + swipe at your face trying to take you down + land you face down or belly up in the thick mud that is the path you follow. Before the forests, miles of hard main + logging roads make sure your feet are relatively sore before entering them + your 1 mph pace while in these mud holes is sure to drive you crazy.

We did however, find two safe havens between these forests, the Tramped Inn + the highest peak of the Raetea forest where we camped in the night with saving just enough water to make it off in the morning.

After leaving these forests our boots looked like a pottery teacher had made them. Tying them, especially for Marina, was difficult. Luckily the Omahuta forest came next + the beginning of it was a two mile walk down a river. Literally, shin high in the water, walking in your boots for over an hour. That was just enough time to get our boots clean before the makers of this trail stuck us right back in a mud hole, just long enough to make our squeaky clean wet boots into wet + muddy ones.

-Devon 

We recently spent four days in five forests. Herekino, Raetea, Omahuta, Puketi + Waitangi. There were a ton of ups + downs- geographically + emotionally.

Basically the Herekino + Raetea were 2,000 ft mud piles. Maybe not completely filled with mud, there were a few beautiful walking sections, but there's zero chance you get out of there clean. Even though the elevation doesn't seem too bad, it's very steep. I can't count how many times I had to stop to get a few breaths in.

The Herekino was a bit easier than the Raetea. The hiking was more enjoyable in the beginning, there was a road section, but the end was definitely tough. We were lucky to find a hut at the end of this track called the "Tramped Inn." Clever name. The local farming family created his hut for travelers to stay in. There were a bunch of bunks + running water... a great way to get off all the mud. We also got to stay with our twin friends we'd been hiking with from the beginning, Mike + Dave. Lots of laughs were shared + I'm lucky we had some company for those tough days.

We hit the ground running the next day through farmland + over to start the Raetea. This one was steep... very steep. Slippery too. It was also so overgrown and hard to navigate. I understand why locals call the forest the "bush." We were navigating through a giant bush. Our goal that day was to get up + over the forest, but we were not so lucky with time. When we reached the summit it was about 3:30 + the end of the trail was about 6 miles away. We were going at about a mile/hr speed so that wasn't a great idea. We were both pretty beat and I was emotionally done for the day. I also lost a pole that day... On the bright side of things we had an amazing campsite on the summit that overlooked the surrounding mountains. It felt good to relax for a bit before bed. We also spent time recording a song... maybe we'll get better with more practice + then we can finally share it with you.

It's hard to stay motivated when you know what's ahead of you- mud, heat, sweat, maybe a few tears. When we woke up the next morning I was unbelievably nervous. I knew the descent was steep + that I wasn't so quick when it came to that. The first part wasn't so fun, but then we came to a more groomed trail. It was an enormous relief. It made the miles go by quicker + the muscles not ache as much. Most of these trails have spit us out into farmland, but the view we saw from this one was the best yet. Maybe because we were so glad to be out of the bush... yes that was mostly it. 

-Marina