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The Blissful Hiker takes a calculated risk to cross the glorious, but dangerous, Tararua Range all alone, the most difficult section of the Te Araroa so far,  taking advantage of a weather window.


In this episode:

1. Blissful is told at Makahika Outddoor Pursuit Centre to keep moving to get through the high, exposed Tararuas, since it will be calm and clear for two days.
2. It's steep and muddy straight uphill to the Te Matawai Hut, but she skips it as advised and moves on all alone on top of the world atop lonely ridge tops shrouded in mist. 
3. After several gloomy but mystical goblin forests, and the summit of Pukematawai, she arrives at Dracophyllum Hut, and watched a glorious sunset. 
4. Stopped momentarily by tachycardia, she finally climbs to the summit of Mount Crawford, the highest point on the trail in this range. 
5. It's a long, muddy descent to the Waitewaewae Hut, where Blissful meets hiker friends and is grateful for a day that felt like flying on clouds.

MUSIC: Impresiones de la Puna by  Alberto Ginastera  and Pastorale Calchaqui by Hector Gallac as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano

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