“On a Mish” #119 Imagination and Fitness (Part One). Muddy Spur Camp, Rees Valley. Mt Aspiring National Park. 28.3.2010. When it comes to hiking around Aotearoa there is nothing wrong with sticking to the normal. Our popular places in paradise are busy for a good reason and I recommend you go see what all the fuss is about. We are lucky to have not only well marked and maintained tracks, but also many areas where very few roam. In populated places, being alone in the wild is a tough task, but here in New Zealand it is only up to your imagination and fitness…
To many (in New Zealand) the expression ‘freedom camping’ relates to people in vans or cars camping near the roadside, sometimes not at the designated camping areas. The rubbish, toilet mess, and sometimes damage has given the words a bad name. But to me freedom camping is going into the wild and pitching a tent. No cars. No roads. No (or very few) people.
By 2010 I had worked a few seasons on the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks and this had fuelled my hunger for more wilderness. Getting a new tent in 2009 gave me the ability to go wherever I wanted, and it was the beginning of a long and wild relationship with some fabric, pegs, and poles.
Along with the views and people, fitness and keeping fit is part of guiding. Whenever I had to carry someone’s pack when the going got tough, I always imagined that the weight I was carrying would be like the weight of a big mission pack. Sometimes I would have to run ahead to open the lodge, and this would also be treated as training and increased stamina, which is very important when you are putting yourself into the outdoors. Being able to train for bigger trips at work was an excellent benefit, along with all the other valuable rewards that come with guiding people around Aotearoa.
After finishing both the Routeburn Track or the ‘Grand Traverse’ (which is the Greenstone and Routeburn Track combined), we would be taken from the track end around past Te Awa Whakatipu Dart River as well as Puahiri or Puahere Rees River. The Rees River was the first to really grab my attention and, after a day trip up to the Invincible Mine site, I was left wanting more. My plan was to revisit the mine with my camping gear, and then hike further on to somewhere on Muddy Creek Spur to camp.
After a big stretch of back-to-back trips, I had some time off and thanks to the weather I decided to tackle the challenge of camping on Muddy Creek Spur. You can dream of all sorts of places to get to, but the challenge is being able to get there. My imagination conjured up a cunning plan and now it was time to see if my fitness was equal with my brains outside of the box idea.
With a pack full of food and camping gear I set out on a quest to freedom camp the way I believe the expression was made for…
