Parlous Passage From Rob Roy

It rained a bit on our Rob Roy hike, and it was raining as we finished it. With even more rain forecast for the evening, we resolved to not spend the night at Raspberry Creek, as in previous years, but to head back toward Wanaka, at least getting past the 6-8 (?) fords and those stretches of the road above the river that I had thought most prone to slips. On the way back out, all the fords were running deeper than on our inbound passage, and the rain steadily increased. After crossing what Vicki recollected to be the last of the fords, we settled in a carpark just passed it, on what I judged to be high and firm ground. (Hey, I know what gabion cages are...). After seven hours on the trail and the stress of the fords, and the road, we pretty much crashed, but only to listen to the rain pelting our fiberglass roof through the night. We were up by 5:45AM, but had to wait another hour or more for first light to reach us deep in the canyon.

Raspberry Creek valley as we left

Next morning, from the carpark; the river has gone from braids
in the big gravel bank to a serous gusher

And the ford is now a couple feet deep, more than I would hazard
in Le Truc Vert (we once had a very bad experience crossing a ford
at Confederate Gulch in Montana); and Vicki is now concerned that
this may not in fact be the last of the fords...

The meteo does not look good...and, most ominously, there has been
no traffic coming in from Wanaka nor out from Raspberry Creek...
(increasingly tense background music...)

But it was the last of the fords, the road straightened out, and the
skies began to clear...yet, there were ever more impediments and
challenges before us

Bovine action scene

Ovine action scene

One of the really good things about New Zealand is that they keep
all the deer behind 8 foot fences; unlike the several I and my truck
accounted for in Montana

All the rocks stayed behind the fences as well...and we made it
back to the holiday park in Wanaka in fine if somewhat weary form