“On a Mish” #142 Red Skies Above (Part Two). Takitimu Tops Camp. Takitimu Conservation Area. 17.3.2018. There are times when you don’t need a weather forecaster to tell you what the conditions will be like. Certain clouds or a change in wind direction can warn you of approaching storms, but the easiest way to know a wet treat is on its way is when there are red skies above in the morning…
I had been asleep for a few hours when I was suddenly awoken by the sound of the tent’s fabric flapping violently in the wind. The forecasted storm had arrived in the form of wind and hail, but at this stage it was pitch black so escaping the gnarly situation wasn’t an option. I find it difficult to sleep when there is so much noise outside, but it isn’t really that bad as I would much rather be on a mish than sitting out the weather at home (to an extent!). Luckily, we only had to wait a couple of hours before it was light enough to start packing up the tent and get ourselves down to lower ground.
An evil blood red sky hung over the Takitimu Mountains. Our little patch was exposed to the south and that is where the darkest of clouds lingered. The ever-increasing wind didn’t help with the pack down of camp, as the tent would be picked up and thrown around. We had to work as a team to avoid losing any of our gear. After a bit of effort, the tent and our other equipment was stowed into our packs, and we were on our way. It looked like we had timed things perfectly as when we began to move the first spits of rain began to fall.
It was awesome to have a route marked out as we knew we had to move quickly if we wanted to avoid getting soaked. We were nearly at the saddle when the spits turned to rain, and even though we were getting wet, one glimpse back up at where we had camped showed us it was much better to be down in the forest than stuck up in the tops. After pushing our way along the tape-marked route we arrived back at Princhester Saddle, and back at the track back down to Princhester Farm.
Over less than 24 hours the mission provided everything that we could have wanted (including an epic red sky wake up!) plus the added excitement of moving quickly to escape an approaching storm. Our time tackling the Takitimu tops showed us that when the sky is red in the morning you better heed the warning!
