Smithy Creek

After the hike, we decided to spend one last night in Fiordland National Park at a DoC campground called Smithy Creek. I took a pot to the river to get some water to boil and this is what I found:

An empty river! Just my luck.

This was strange because as I approached the river from the woods I could hear running water. A little perplexed I followed the riverbed north until I came across the end of the river:

At first I was worried that a flash flood might be on the way but upon further investigation it was clear that the little stream was continuing underground. Upriver there was a proper stream deep enough to fill my pot but at this spot the water slowed to a trickle and stopped. This set the stage for some rather interesting poses: