Hiked the Ben Loman peak out of Queenstown today.  Literally, about 5 minutes from the trail head, I passed 2 young men and 1 woman, all appearing in their early 20s.  They had stopped so the woman could get a drink of water and as I passed by the woman said to the guys "I hate this f------- hike!", a sentiment I often mutter to myself on my hikes, though I usually wait until I am at least an hour or so into it...

It turned out to be a day of some.. errors and miscalculations.  I had selected the Ben Loman hike, as I had thought it would be a fairly moderate hike, somehow thinking that it would be around 2500' of vertical- a good warm up hike..  However, as I was hiking, I found it to be quite a difficult and long trail.  As I hiking, I was- thinking 'man, I must still be feeling the effects of jet lag (I was), out of shape or age or something, but this just seems a lot tougher than I thought'.  Of course, when I got to the top with a lot, I glanced at the verticals and determined that 'no Ken, this is not 2500', but actually about 4900' of vertical'- not exactly the moderate day I had planned (for perspective, it was a little more vertical than climbing Mt. Washington).  Not sure how I misplaced 2400' of vertical- where is Craze when I need him?  I wish I could say it was the first time I had miscalculated a hike....

But it was an absolutely beautiful day, with nary a cloud in the sky.  Picture perfect you might say.  That is, it would have been 'picture perfect' if I had remembered to recharge my camera.  I had just enough battery for....3 pictures (all lower down).   Of course, last night I had charged my laptop, phone and tablet, which were all sitting fully charged in my rental car at the bottom.

The lack of photos of what was a truly stunning scene of the lake, Q and the Remarkables would have made me weep, if I weren't already doing that from the blisters on my feet.  That, of course, occurred when I left my band aids in the car next to the fully charged devices.  (Not sure why I got blisters- the boots were fully broken in).

When exactly am I going to become smart?  It seems to be getting late in the day.

The lack of photos was a real shame as it was a spectacular day, both weather and scenery wise.  There were a number of people on the trail of all ages.  What I found most interesting is how many people hike alone, both male and female.  While there are plenty of pairs hiking, I would guess that roughly 30% of the people were alone.  Interesting.  But most interesting of all was passing the 3 young people I mentioned at the outset as I was coming down and they were nearing the peak- I never would have thunk that...

The photos-