adventures on the Reese-Dart and the Cascade Saddle

Hey everyone

Finally found an opportunity for an update on our travels down here in New Zealand. Andy I are gonna split the update because we simply have too much to talk about...I am gonna stick to telling a bit about our tramp up the Reese and Dart Valleys and our excursion to the Cascade Saddle. The Dart-Reese track starts out of the town of Glenorchy...a little drive away from Queenstown. Glenorchy is a small kinda mountain town that reminds me a lot of Gustavus up in Alaska. We started our tramp going up the Reese Valley. The beginning of the Reese Valley is mostly boggy farmland surrounded by pretty fat mountains. Our first day consisted of quite a few river crossings...pretty wet socks...Jungley mud walking and finally an arrival at Shelter Rock hut, surrounded by beautiful mountains. We woke up early the next day at Shelter rock hut to climb over the Reese Saddle and than down to Dart Hut...Our day started pretty windy and rainy, which made the trekking kinda fun and challenging and than turned into a super sunny and hot day. Our decent from on top of the Reese Saddle took us down a beautiful river gorge and was a bit longer than we expected. Once at Dart hut I was pretty spent so I did some yoga, meditation, and took a nap, while Andy and Sean went off to check out the Whitburn Valley and glacier... From the sound of it...it was like some tarzan trekking with vine swinging included.

The next day (Cascade Saddle and Pylon) was one of the best days of hiking I've ever had. Our plan was to walk up the Dart Valley until we hit the Cascade Saddle...go up to the top of the Saddle and than go to the Pylon (the high point before the trail drops back down to the Wanaka Region). We started out pretty early and our first part of the day went by in what seemed like seconds...without packs Andy and I were nearly running down the trail. A handful of river crossings later and we were at the Dart Glacier with views of the Marshall Glacier and huge mountains all around us. I felt almost like i was in the Himalayas or something (not that I have been there before), but the relief from the valley floor to the top of the mountains was pretty overwhelming and epic. From the valley floor the trail started to wind its way up a scree/talus slope until it finally made its way to the top of a huge mountains saddle. the views up there were amazing and were blessed with pretty much blue bird weather. Andy and I were feeling pretty spry still so we decided to keep up our jogging pace and charge up to the pylon...finally at 1900 meters we arrived at the pylon and were rewarded with some of the best alpine views I have ever seen. Mt. Aspiring along with other peaks surrounded us and we could see down into both the Glenorchy and Wanaka regions. On the pylon Andy and I enjoyed on a budget tuna sandwich lunch and some much needed, but brief relaxation time. Our trip down from the Saddle was a bit long....maybe some would call it a slog, but it was great. The rivers had risen slightly from snow melt...so the crossings were iffy, but the day of epic views was worth it. Finally at the Dart hut we enjoyed a Mac n' Cheese dinner and passed out early from exhaustion! GREAT DAY!

Things to note about that trip: Jim didn't make it because of a bum hit...he made it to dart hut...but had to be helicoptered out.
Sean Split off for a bit with his friend mike, but we have met up with him since than...so things are all good.

After our Cascade Saddle day Andy and I were the only ones left...We flew down the Dart valley to Daley Flat hut...shared an evening full of Sand flies and Israelis and finally made it out a couple days later at Chinamans Bluff.

Overall, what a great trip! The Dart-Reese is definitely one of the best tramps in NZ and is one of the most epic hikes I have ever done.

Thats all for now from me

until next post

-David