Last weekend, I tramped over the Pouakai ranges behind Mt. Taranaki at Egmont National Park over two days. It's the most challenging overnight tramp--or hike!--that I've done to date. And so far, I'm loving it. I went with a Meetup group; strangers, really. We traversed over alien-like landscapes of towering rock faces and delicate waterfalls carved into the side of Mt. Taranaki, a sleeping volcano that's ready to erupt any time now; and over open swamp lands before we ascended the Pouakai ranges that undulate to the north of Mt. Taranaki. We saw views of the sprawling farm land of New Plymouth beyond. We climbed the peak of Mt. Henry, and then descended again into luscious bush, filled with trickling streams and beautiful fauna. The fog rolled in fairly early that weekend, hovering over us and making it all seem like we were dropped into scenes from the Lord of the Rings. Isn't this why I came to New Zealand?!
The power of nature--though, truly, the climate was very much tame for the two days--can really break down a person. All the more reason to owe it homage and to never go unprepared for such a trip. Being that I was with a group of strangers, I was more nervous about what to expect out of them than I was to that of the trail. Sure enough, two of the girls got on my last nerve (cue the head-shaking and finger snapping that I often borrow from my African-American sistas). I absolutely abhor whiners, ESPECIALLY when I'm trying to enjoy the majesty of nature. They complained that hut conditions were not suitable on our first night, or that the trip organizer, Ray, was being unfair. They were ill-prepared, carrying heavy drink cans, ceramic bowls, and JEANS! One of them was left behind when she didn't turn up after over an hour behind us. (We went back to pick her up, don't worry). Why come along the trip if you're going to be so unpleasant? And when the girl-who-was-left-behind, began to give our trip organizer a piece of her upset mind, I just wanted to tell her to shut up: don't go blaming others for you mis-communication. Not that it was necessarily her fault--shit happens--but she should've told someone that she would be too far behind, especially after Ray had already tried to put her in front of him and she insisted that he not! A simple mistake gone terribly wrong, but why cry over spilt milk?
And then one dude was also left behind because he'd twisted his ankle on the first day and then insisted that he not take the short route after it was offered to him a half a dozen times...MEN! Either he really did not just hear the offer (which I saw him say no directly to multiple times) or he's dumb. Probably having further injured himself, he followed our 12km trail on the second day, and again, forced us to make the difficult decision of whether to go ahead to New Plymouth for lunch or wait indefinitely. (Don't worry, we came back for him too.)
One can argue that we should have waited on the "no man left behind policy." But remember that we were strangers, and not equipped with time or the right gear to make a rescue if indeed that's what we had needed to do. The members of the group were repeatedly given schedules and the warning that one needs to be FIT to accomplish the hike. So, no, don't go screaming at the trip organizer that it's his fault for making the members-left-behind wait for an extra 3.5 hours while we toured New Plymouth. They're lucky that he even came back!
Whewwwwww, good to get that out. I don't like being angry in a country that is supposed to bring me peace. In all, the trip was amazing, and the other half the group that wasn't on my last nerve was lovely. One girl loved to sing Disney songs, while a pair of older ladies were such a treat just to chat with on the trail. Granted, they were Kiwi or Australian; the others were German, Canadian (who was the yeller--real surprise there), and a Filipino (**head against table**). Does this represent a conclusion?? I won't go there...
New Plymouth was a real treat. We climbed a giant rock face near the coast and ate lunch by the waterfront. The coast glistened in the sun when the clouds parted for just a couple of hours. And the drive home, with views of sprawling, green farm land and numerous sheep, was again another visual form of spectacular.
As we sped back into Wellington (quite late, since we went back to pick up the others), I realized that this trip tested my patience for people, or perhaps the lackthereof I have the tendency to detest people quite quickly, and to remain in this prejudice even if it's not called for. I'm not saying that I'm going to call up some of these people again any time soon to hang out, but I can't put too much effort into being against them, either. It's better to just let things go and enjoy the bigger picture, in this case, Egmont National Park. And nature can bare the best and the worst of people. Again, another reason to bow down to its power.
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