Lake Angelus via Robert's Ridge Route
Type: Out and back, Part of 5 day backpacking of Traverse-Sabine Circuit
Spent: 9 hours
Distance: 22.4 km (14 miles)
Elevation change: 1288 meters (approximately 4225 feet)
Wow. This is another epic day! This day we started 4 night/5 day backpacking. The first day is going to Lake Angelus camping site via Robert's Ridge Route.
At the parking lot when we were about to hike, the guy with barefeet talked to us.
The guy said, "Hi guys where are you heading?"
Mr.N answered, "We are going to Angelus hut."
The guy said, "Oh very nice. Via Ridge trail?"
Mr.N said, "Yes."
The guy said in an exciting mode, "Oh very nice!"
Mr.N said, "Have you been there?"
The guy said, "Yes, I live in Nelson, but I haven't been there for a while. It used to have a crowded issue"
Mr.N answered, "We have a reservation."
The guy said, "Oh it takes reservation now? Good."
Then he said, "Okay have fun guys!"
This is a typical scene in New Zealand. New Zealanders are friendly, nice, and love chatting. Also they are very hard core trampers! On the trail, New Zealanders are wearing distinctive outfits. Shorts and gators. They are not camping gear junkies like many Americans. They don't have newest model of backpacking or tents: rather old style. One reason is probably gears are much more expensive in New Zealand. I saw some backpackers magazine in New Zealand and found stuff is twice or third time more expensive than prices in the U.S. For example, JetBoil is 2.5X more expensive in NZ, compared to the U.S. I like the new gear, but I also admire New Zealand trampers using good old style gears for a long time.
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| Lake Rotoiti |
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| Lunch Spot |
The hike started with steep climbing (well always in NZ). Immediately wonderful lake view appeared. It is Lake Rotoiti. It is a very big lake of beautiful greenish blue. There was a motorboat going on the lake. Some hikers take boat shuttle to go to further in the wilderness.
On the way apparently NZ trampers (I was sure because he had gators and
short with old style backpack) passed us. They are so hardcore.
Then we passed apparently a tourist couple. They only carried tiny backpacks. According to Mr.N, the girl had a very surprised facial expression by seeing me carrying a huge backpack. Mr.N was laughing later.
After some climb, we reached the ridge. From there it was less steep and the view was non-stopping gorgeous. We had lunch with the view.
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| Ridge track |
The ridge walk continued. All the way to the Angelus Lake was gorgeous. We only saw a hiker after lunch spot. The hiker was far ahead on the ridge trail. Some portion are along all green mountains, some are interesting color of dirt as you can see in the left picture. In the picture you can see the track on the ridge.
In the evening the Angelus lake and Angelus hut appeared down the ridge track. Wow. The lake is very beautiful. The hut is in the perfect location. We had a camping reservation at the Angelus lake. It is associated with Angelus hut. The campers can also use hut facility: kitchen area, tables, etc. There were two tents already set up. So we took a spot far from those two tents. Gorgeous place to spend a night!!!
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| Angelus hut, Angelus Lake, and tents |
The warden was Veronica, probably a transgendered person. She is really nice, funny, and friendly. It was good to see those open things in New Zealand. The picture above contains Angelus Lake, Angelus hut, and our neighbors tent. We camped a little left of the blue tent in the picture (the picture was taken before we went down to the lake).
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