Rimutaka Trig Walk

Sometimes you just have bad days, and this day was one of them. It seemed like thing after thing was piling on top of me, and only bad news seemed to arrive within the day. My first reaction was to go home, make some cookie dough and then lay in bed eating that, binge watching YouTube. On my drive home from work, I saw snow on the Rimutakas. It was the first time I had noticed snow on the hills, and although not heavily covered, there was enough for the peaks to be white. The whole drive I kept catching myself staring at the snow, and wishing I had the ability to be amongst it.

I got home, and realised I could be amongst it. This didn't need to continue to be a day of disappointment just because it had started that way. I quickly changed into my Oh My Fluffy Dog tracksuit pants, a thermal, and sweater, grabbed Diego and rushed out the door. The further into the Rimutakas I drove, the more I realised that the snow was not near the road or anywhere I could reach. It was on further peaks, and were either impossible to get to, or would take at least a day to get to. Since we already were near the top I decided to do the Trig walk anyway.

Because it was freezing cold, and nearing sundown the walk itself was empty. I was allowed to have Diego off leash and trust that we wouldn't run into any other dogs or people. The further up we got, the more beautiful it got. Also, a great thing to mention is that this walk is usually super windy at the top. The type of wind that feels like it will blow your ear drums if you are not wearing a beanie. This day we went, it was beautiful. A slight breeze but nothing compared to normal.

As we neared the top of the walk, the sun started to set and we got wonderful golden light. Up there, with just Diego as company, being able to see in a 360 view of the Rimutakas, Tararuas and Wairarapa was just incredible. It's something that is hard to explain, but is insanely blessing. I took this moment to realise that these little things that were piling on top of me weren't that important, they wouldn't matter in a week, let alone a year or thirty years. It made me thankful for my dog, my family and friends, New Zealand, my ability to travel, to hike, to explore.

I truly believe that people need to experience this feeling often, the bigness of the world, the craziness and beauty of the natural world and the breathe of being 'alone'. We went in search of snow, but instead I found happiness.