Feb 3: Up on the Isthmus

Feb 3, 2023: Albert Town (near Wānaka)

Felicity and I made an early start, and were at the trailhead around 7:30.

15.8km with 1155m of elevation gain to the summit of Isthmus Peak so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time.

As it turned out, this was probably one of the more manageable >1000m gain hikes I’ve done, and we added our own detour along the ridgeline near the top for good measure. On the way up, we saw land maggots and a herd of fallow deer (fawns nursing and racks of bodiless antlers moving down a creek).

The rock poked out of the hills at jagged angles. It looked like schist or something similar.

We climbed from Lake Hāwea and there were eastward views the whole time.

We had the trail almost to ourselves on the way up, and were the third party to reach to summit.

From the top, we could see both Lake Hāwea to the east and Lake Wānaka to the west.

“So you wanna be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house, five cars, you’re in charge
Comin’ up in the world
Don’t trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly”

After our detour in search of a bit of privacy for our rockstardom hilarity (which we totally laugh at other people for doing in public), we headed down.