Bear, my loyal hiking companion, and I embarked on what was supposed to be a long day hike from Arrowtown.

The adventure began with a climb to the summit of Crown Peak, followed by a traverse along the ridge saddle to the Mt Sale turk for lunch. Our journey continued across to the trig at Mt Sale, but as we descended down the ridge line with the intention of reaching Macetown Road, things took an unexpected turn.

The terrain became steeper, and the bush, seemingly impenetrable.

Struggling through, we managed to scramble across and descend into Bracken Gully Stream, but the effort left us exhausted, cold, and soaking wet. To make matters worse, I lost Bear for an hour.

By then, 10 hours had passed since we started, and the fast-flowing stream dropped into a dangerous narrow gorge. Climbing up the opposite bank, we attempted to escape the predicament, but the terrain became increasingly steep, covered with thick and impenetrable matagouri.

200 meters up, I reached a point where I could go no further on the precipitous gorge wall.

By early evening, close to exhaustion, shivering from the cold and soaked through, the realization hit me that I was in serious trouble and at risk of injury if I fell. Then, to my immense relief, I activated my ResQLink VIEW RLS PLB.

Two hours later, the local Search & Rescue Alpine Cliff Rescue team arrived. Both Bear and I were separately extracted on a harness and strop, bringing an end to our challenging day in the wilderness. The sound of the approaching rescue helicopter, after what felt like an interminable wait, brought a big sigh of relief. Thus, concluding our unexpected misadventure.