“On a Mish” #312 Sore and Satisfied – Part Two. Peak 1543m. Glade Burn / Dore Pass. Fiordland National Park. 8.12.2021. Effort is met with reward, and for me add in a degree of soreness. Being sore is something I am slowly getting used to as the time goes on since my hip injury. I have found that it is much better to be sore and satisfied than couch bound. It is pretty easy to give up when you have an excuse, but once you get a taste of the mountains you will find a way to get back into them regardless. Limping with a grin means I have treated myself to a mountain adventure!
Day one was done and now it was time to enjoy camp life in Fiordland with the Jack Russell-sized sandflies. I’m guessing the meteorologist predicted the cool southerly winds would blow the clouds away, however as the drizzle returned I could say with confidence that they were wrong. A short spell of rain had doubt starting to try and force its way into my mind, but I had an entire night to go before my mission up to Dore Pass. Firewood was in abundance around my temporary home, and in no time I had a fire raging which kept the sandflies at bay as long as I stayed very close to it. I always get excited about a night in a tent in the wild, and it was only a matter of time before I retreated to the warmth of my sleeping bag.
Early-ish the next morning I was up with coffee in hand looking at the stunning environment I had spent the night in. Cloud hung low on the mountains and the lack of a breeze made me question whether I would get a view from the top. I’m not going to know if I just linger around at camp, so I saddled up and clambered my way up the Glade Burn to the start of the Dore Pass Track. A track that can get you through the forest up above the treeline is gold in Fiordland. When you’re on a track you can just put your head down and grunt your way up the mountain. However, Dore Pass is more of a route than a well formed track and in a couple of places I suddenly noticed a lack of orange triangles and had to backtrack to rejoin the track. As I climbed higher another face full of cobwebs reminded me I was the only one on the track this morning, just the way I like it! How lucky are we in Aotearoa to be able to achieve total solus in a place of incredible beauty?! The forest seemed to keep going on forever, but a quick check of the watch told me I had only been going for just over an hour. Just under another hour later I got a much needed boost of motivation as I realised I was in the cloud and would soon be above it. I came across a boggy section of the track that I recognized from when I hiked it back in 2012, and I knew that I was close to getting above the treeline and into epic views. I knew I had a long way to go, but at this point I was feeling awesome and was looking up at the mountains above Dore Pass(1390m) thinking ‘can I make it to the top of one of them?’…
