Our third day on The Old Ghost Road took us out past Ghost Lake along the ridges on the Lyell Range to the upper portion of Stern Valley. After dropping down past Ghost Lake the track quickly entered the cloud forest the West Coast is famous for. In these forests it seems that every surface is covered in plants, with even the rocks and tree trunks being covered in moss.
Although we had lost the sunshine, the clouds remained high and when we came to a break in the forest the landscape looked entirely different with ridges of blue mountains which looked more like the east coast of the US than somewhere in New Zealand.
We climbed back out of the forest towards the ridge we had seen in the distance from our hut the previous evening. Looking back we were able to pick out the dramatic cliff with the little cabin we had stayed in.
Ahead of us lay Skyline Ridge, an exposed section of track that drops quickly into the next valley. As we stood on the ridge we could pick out not only the next section of track, but also the valley we would be walking through the next day, including the final major climb of the trail in the distance.
As we reached the end of the ridge we came to the famous ‘Skyline Steps’. These steps drop some 60 vertical metres (almost 200 feet), and link the alpine section of the track with the lower forested section below.
We were glad we were tackling the track in this direction as descending the twisting staircase through the woods felt a lot easier than climbing it. Knowing that all the supplies had been dropped by helicopter and the steps built by volunteers, it made us appreciate once again the huge effort that it took to construct this track.
From the Skyline Steps we were quickly deep into the forest again, with the lush undergrowth a testimony to how wet this part of New Zealand usually is. After a while the track joined the upper section of Stern Creek and the noise of the rushing water accompanied the birdsong as we made our way down through the valley.
Despite the dense undergrowth, our luck had finally run out and even the thick canopy above us couldn’t keep all of the rain that had started to fall off of us. It remained quite warm and so, undeterred we stopped at the side of the creek to enjoy some lunch by a waterfall.
With another relatively short day of hiking it wasn’t much longer until we reached the shelter of Stern Valley Hut. Sitting on the banks of Stern Creek, we quickly explored the area hoping to get a glimpse of one of the rare blue ducks that the area is know for, but it seemed that they were smart enough to seek shelter from the rain.
We took advantage of the damp evening to hunker down in our cabin and relax ready for the following day which knew would be our biggest day of hiking on this track.