More Wilderness areas of New Zealand! Bryan Harwood

I DID IT!!!!!!  I successfully completed a 21 day Solo expedition in the Fjordland and Southern Alps Wilderness areas of New Zealand! Although, not my first solo expedtion by any means, this one, however, was the most extreme, conditionally varied, and rugged trip I have ever been on. Here is a break down of each day, and the terrain that I was faced with.

Total mileage: 114.8 miles

Total Elevation gained and lost: 26,795 feet

Starting Pack weight: 75 lbs  (Food,camp gear, and mountain gear)

SUMMIT OF MOUNT EARNSLAW: Southern Alps, Mount Aspiring NP (Day 15)

Day 1: I started up the Hollyford Valley deep in the heavy rainforest and began rapidly ascending into the Darran Mountains via the Moraine Creek route. The route was steep and wet. The sounds of the rainforest were very loud, insects, birds, and water created a magnificent symphony of noises. My destination was a subalpine basin called Tent Flat. After climbing up 3,200 feet from the beech forest below in only 2.4 miles with little-to-NO direct path through the bush, was spent. 

View From Camp: Tent Flat Day 1

Day 2: From tent flat, I trekked through the marshy and muddy valley floor of this basin to begin an alpine ascent into the Adalaide Lake Basin in another 1,200 feet, again in less than 2 miles. Steep and rugged, but a little easier on the ground. However, talos gradually became massive boulders, and the going went very rough, very quickly. The route I ended up taking, took me up and over a ridge that was made up of entirely of boulders the size of houses and cars precariously situated with deep chasms in between. This was agonizing to traverse with a 75 lb pack. I entered the lake basin and I could see lake adalaide not 500 feet in front of me, but the travel was so slow and painful, it took 2 full hours to make it a half km. I reached the lake shore to find the conditions werenot any better. No beaches here, just boulders. The day was hard, and it took 10 hours to trek up 1.8 miles. This place is rugged. It puts the Sierra Nevada and the rockies back home in thier place.

       

First glimpse of the Alpine, right below adalaide basin.                                   My camp for 3 nights. Lake Adalaide

Day 3: Set up a day pack to do some climbing up into the Darrans. I attempted to Summit Gifford peak, but the summit blocks were vertical faces. Obviously impossible without partner or ropes. The views were stunning, and the weather was incredible. It blew my mind to see the glaciers overflowing from the mountains.

       

Approaching Summit, which is behind me: view to the North of Mount Tutoko     Just below Summit blocks of Mount Gifford. View to the North of The high Darran Mountains

and lake adalaide below.

Day 4: It rained all day. No tent, just a bivvy bag. I layed in my bivvy all day and ate half of my chocolate ration. It got below freezing tonight and it was cold. So... I considered this my layover day. Cold Wet and virtually NO WAY to escape it. 

Day 5: I packed up and began heading back down to the Hollyford to continue on to my next leg of the trip, but first, I had to get down the 5,200 feet descent in one piece. In order to avoid the enormous boulder field from HELL, I dipped down out of the basin via the beech forest. Bad Idea. Horrible Idea. I spent 5 hours in a tangled mess of branches, roots, boulders, bogs, and creeks all wrapped up in a nice package of a 70-75% downslope Oh and a 75 pound pack. My patience was thin, but i'm sure my balls grew a bit today. Once I got outta the forest, it was Reletively smooth. Atleast I found the route that I took up... I camped by the River once I got down where I was eaten alive by sandflies, a theme that would be consistant for the next 7 days in the Hollyford valley's Rainforest of HELL.

The glacier carved valley looking down toward the Hollyford. Tent Flat below

Day 6: Began the Hollyford Track toward Alabaster Lake. Very pretty water colors. Sandflies Suck balls.

   

The Hollyford River with the Darrans Mountains behind. 

Day 7: From Lake Alabaster, I trekked through the worst boggy, muddy, rooty, rocky, humid, wet, slippery, and overall bullshit conditions ever! The Demon trail along, or above, below, and vertically rather, Lake Mckerrow. My knees were pissed, and so was I after 13 hours of non-stop negotiating with inhuman conditions on a "trail" that is supposed to take 6 hours, I reached Hokuri Creek, where the views of the lake and the peaks above made me forget about my aching body, but sandflies still sucked major amounts of balls. The day 7 tireds were comin on...

Hokuri Creek entering Lake Mckerrow: Camp fo the night. Not Bad.

Day 8: I reached Martin's Bay today. Not impressed, but the sun was shining, and the ocean breeze was cool. I spent the day naked walking around the sand bar by the mouth of the Hollyford River.

Day 9: I Chilled out at the beach today and went to watch the seal pups play. A wilderness beach with NO other human beings around. I hung out with the seals for most of the day and I collected some shells for earrings to people

  

Martin's Bay                                                                                             Baby Seal pups. Hope for the world :)

Day 10: I left Martins Bay and headed back toward the Demon Trail, once again, crap conditions. Wind blew all day, and I mean WIND BLEW. I began losing my mind in the forest;

Typical Dense and humid beech forest

BRYAN GUNTHER HARWOOD'S "ON THE TRAIL"

BRYAN GUNTHER HARWOOD'S "ON THE TRAIL"

 

Hello my friends and loved ones! I am writing you my first adventure update! I will be venturing to the land of stunning beaches, towering mountains, deep jungles, and rain forests, vast pastures of pure white sheep, endless summer days, and finally the ultimate expression of Freedom! A land of mystical landscapes and flourishing culture, New Zealand will be my home for the next three full months of my journey of life.

The anticipation for such an undertaking is mixed with mystery and excitement, nerves and emotions, however, I embrace this sensation as it is truly a crucial portion of the experience as an entire entity. I leave for this grand adventure this coming Monday, December the 9^th, and I shall arrive on the 12^th, making the 10^th seize to exist. I will write to you regarding more of New Zealand following my first few significant events. Until then, I would like to share with you what I have been up to recently!

When I left Missoula for California on November 3rd, I set out on a long journey home to see old friends, human and conifer alike, before returning to see my parents in Bakersfield. Besides getting stranded in Seattle for the night, the greyhound trip went well. I met a variety of interesting fellows. I had a blast seeing the west through the window of a long bus. Upon arrival to California, I felt a deep appreciation for my home State. I love it here, but its not my home any longer, Missoula Montana holds that title from now on; however, my family and most of my dearest friends reside here, so I still consider it home. 

First stop was Chico California to see one of my most dear friends that walks this Earth, Nic Eckhart. He is a brother to me in every way, and getting to see him was something that had been anticipated a very long time considering I hadn't seen him in more than a year! Nic took me to the Sierra Nevada Brewery, where I had the time of my life! It truly is a Beer Disneyland, now I know exactly how charlie felt in that mystical chocolate factory! The next day Nic took me to Lassen National Park! What a wonderful welcome home present! We took his motorcycle up. This was the coldest I have been for a long time. The ride up was a good 2 hours, and the wind was chilly, as it was in the mountains. The park is situated so that the road traverses some very beautiful alpine landscapes. The ride on this road was spectacular!  I have never been on a motorcycle surrounded by huge mountain peaks and glorious deep blue alpine lakes!! What a treat. We also hiked to a spot called bumpass hell, a sweet geo-thermal phenomena. Just as incredible as Yellowstone. We also hike down to a gorgeous alpine lake deep in the backcountry and we sat to reflect on life and what we had learned in the last year. Many thoughtful words were said, and our mutual respect grew just a little bit more this day. The next few days in Chico were warm and splendid.

Nic and I with his motorcycle. Mount Lasses is in the back.

Nic and I at the Bumpass Hell

 

Beautiful Lake

Me among the Mountains!

Next stop was the Trinity Alps Wilderness with my good buddy Erik. He had planned a 5 day complete apline trek up and over 2 of the main drainages and divides of the entire Wilderness. First day we set out to traverse over the stuart fork drainage to "alpine" lake, then trek over the pass into the Smith and Morris Lake basin. From their we made our first major summit of the expedition on Sawtooth Mtn. It was absolutely breathtaking in ways that this email can not explain. Then we trekked down into canyon creek lakes basin where we hoofed it up the tallest peak in the alps, Thompson Peak. A sea of mountains lay before us in majestice glory, mount shasta, lassen, and Hood could be seen in the distance. Wow! Then we took the alpine route above El lake to cross the divide into the stuart fork drainage. We stayed up high, as the landscape was reminiscent of the tablelands in Sequoia NP, the views of Sawtooth ridge and Emerald and Sapphire lakes was mind blowing!  We spent our final evening at Morris Meadow, where I celebrated my 25th birthday with a little bit of campfire and whiskey. Another good birthday in the Alps! (3rd year in a row)

Wilderness boundary with erik

sawtooth mountain summit

climbin up the mountain

Yeah! the top of Thompson Peak!!

Sawtooth ridge in back stuart fork below.

The next stop, was Arcata, Ca to see another very dearly beloved friend of mine, Jensen Martin. This man is one of the most important people in my life, and getting to see him was a gift. We sat and talked on our growth and our newfound wisdom on certain subjects. Again, our mutual respect had increased much this evening.

On my much needed alone time, I spent most of my time hiking in the redwoods, the marsh, and the incredible aquatic habitat at Mad River Beach where I hung out with over a hundred seals. The river was to swift to cross, but I almost did it...

I also had the chance to see my friends Jessica and Julia. It was very wonderful to see them, as I have known them for a long time, and they know me in ways most people never will. I love them both very very much, and I am glad that I had the blessing to re-connect with them. Life works in ways most of us will never fully understand. I made them a homemade loaf of my specialty sugar-cinamon bread!

The next big event was when my new very good friend and brother Jakob came to Arcata to visit! I met Jakob in Missoula through the MCC, and we connected instantly. Since October, we have already achieved 2 major mtn summits together, and hiked many miles. The fact that he was actually following through with plansd that we had made the month prior, was a miracle! Now days NOONE follows through with plans, right? Well this man does!

Upon his arrival, I took him to the local brew pub, we reconnected, and everything was grand. The next day, we took my friend Jensen's truck to Redwood National Park, at a trail called Prairie Creek. Its a 14 mile loop through magnificent groves of old growth Redwood and vast northern californian style coast line! We spooked a couple Bull Elk on our trek in the dunes, and it was a very exciting wildlife encounter. This was Jake's first time seeing redwoods, and he was thrilled!!! If you ever have the chance to do this hike, god damnit DO IT! It goes through fern canyon, west ridge, and the James Irvine trail through magnificent lowland basin redwoods.

Jake and I fern canyon

Redwoods

The next day, was beautiful and SUNNY! So I decided to take Jake up to some of the most incredible beaches in California. I am referring to what could only be the Moonstone to Trinidad rural route! We parked at Moonstone, and we walked the road to trinidad. The sun was broadcasting epic rays upon the vivid blue of the ocean, and the greens of the conifers and ferns made this place look like a fairyland fanfare! It took all day to hike there and back, especially considering we took our time and explored every nook and cranney of those rocky and rugged beaches! We endeed the day with enormous burritoes from the aztec grill. oh my god, i felt like dying...

The Humboldt Coast!

The next day was my ride home to bakersfield. I was so thrilled to see mom and dad!!!! Also, I would see my brother James, my sister in law Kara, my niece Gweneth, and my dear grandparents! I had thanksgiving with the HArwoods, and the Buchanons!! What a blessed gift family can be to a travelling soul.

Gweneth, my niece,and I

Grams, Dad, Mom, Me, Kara, James, and Gramps. Gweneth is the baby.

Thank you for reading my story, it was brief, and I wish I had the time to put every detail into, but that will have to wait for another time :)

I hope you all have a very wonderful winter!!

Thanks for reading, I will email you in a few weeks from New Zealand!!!!

If you would like, please forward this to friends that I may not have on the email list. Thank you so Much!!!

I love you all.

-Bryan Gunther "Wolf" Harwood 

Freedom found through Wilderness, through Wilderness a HAppy peaceful soul.