One 3-day backpack + 4 day hikes -- From peaks, to valleys, to volcanoes. Past waterfalls, forests of beech trees, bogs, emrald green lakes and glaciers.
Jan. 23-25 -- The Routeburn Track: 3 days. This is New Zealand's second most popular Great Walk. It's a tramp over the Southern Alps' Main Divide.
Day 1: From the Routeburn shelter to Routeburn Flats campsite
8.6 km / 371m gain / 2 hours MT
This was a shorter, easier day. A good warm up for the next day.
As planned, Denise who'd suffered a recent injury, hiked in with us about halfway before turning back. She would later pick us up from the other end of the trail.
I figured it was good to get the backpack done first. That way there'd be less chance of getting ill from being in a foreign country while you're on the trek. By the end of the first week, our supply of Imodium between the four of us, was running very thin. We were not sick, but our digestive systems needed to adjust to different bacteria and food.
We walked through a thick rainforest of red, silver and mountain beech trees.
Much of the trail followed alongside Routeburn Gorge.
The track was in very good condition this first day. We passed many people that were out on a day hike to enjoy the cool pools of turquoise water with a small sandy beach, farther up in the gorge.
1) Viens in rock 2) New Zealand Robin
The last half an hour was fairly level walking beside an open meadow.
At the end of the meadow is where we camped.
It was so peaceful with the touch of a gentle breeze and occassional bird song. As evening approached, temperatures dropped to more comfortable levels.
Day 2: Routeburn Flats campsite to Mackenzie Lake campsite
20.6 km / 1383m gain / 1515m high / 7 hours MT
Just a 5 minute walk back to the main trail and the climbing started. This proved to be a challenging day, not only long but with much elevation gain and our heavy 35-40 lb. packs on our backs.
Looking back at the meadow we'd camped in.
Star Creeper
Just past the Routeburn Flats Hut was the open subalpine and Routeburn Falls (1005m).
Looking back at the Routeburn Flats Hut. It's one large building that has 48 bunks.
The left side of the valley.
And the right side of the valley.
1) Mountain Foxglove 2) Blackeyed Susan
Large Mountain Fleabane
Phoenix Bluff rock.
1) Mountain Harebell 2) Pearly Everlasting
Lake Harris is carved by a glacier. It's 800m long and 500m wide.
Almost at the Harris Saddle (1255m).
Hungry and ready for a sit, it was a relief to round the corner and see the shelter. We could sit inside it, use the nice outhouses and leave our heavy backpacks there while we did the side hike to Conical Hill. This added another 310m gain to the hike.
2) Strap-leaved Daisy
It was steep, but well worth it.
1) Sage Cushion Plant 2) South Island Edelweisse
Looking west towards Milford Sound (New Zealand's most popular Great Walk).
This was the highest point on the whole trek (1515m).
Harris Lake.
The middle peak is Conical Hill.
At the shelter we turned south (left), entering Hollyford Valley with a river running through it. Now the trail was more narrow and level, traversing the Hollyford Ridge.
The Darren Mountain Range.
Here we turned left, and soon came within view of the emerald colored MacKenzie Lake.
The Humbolt Mountains -- south.
Our campsite was by that small patch of beach to the left of the centre of the photo.
When I entered this beech forest, I thought, "No wonder they chose New Zealand as a location to film the Hobbits and Lord of the Rings". Almost every piece of ground and bark was covered in moss! I almost expected a dwaft to pop out from behind a boulder.
What a relief to finally arrive at camp at 4:00pm and drop our heavy packs. With throbbing feet and not an ounce of energy left, this tranquil beach with its superb views was a true blessing.
I was jealous of Janice when I found her lying there and she said she'd taken a dip. Why didn't I take an extra pair of under garments?
Day 3: MacKenzie Lake to the Divide
11.3 km / about 700m gain
We didn't need an alarm clock. The black & red Kaka bird hovering in the branches overhead, had a very loud piercing cry. And when he called out, his buddies would respond. He was the size of a chicken and had red under his wings.
Oh man. Did we have to climb again? After yesterday? Oh well. It was only about 40 minutes and the rest was downhill, with the exception of Key Summit.
Looking across the Hollyford Valley to the Darren Mountains.
Tomtit sitting on a flax branch.
Earland Falls are 174m high!
Lake Howden had a ghostly appearance.
1) Doll's Daisy
From Howden Lake the track slanted gradually upwards for a bit, till the juntion to the Key Summit side-trail.
We dropped our packs at the juntion to Key Summit (919m) to do this half hour hike.
Stunted beech trees.
Done! Denise was waiting for us when we arrived at 2:00pm.
Jan. 26: Milford Sound
11 km / fairly level track
We parked at Deep Water Basin where a 20-minute boat ride got us to the trailhead.
We went straight across but touring boats would turn right to view Milford Sounds' inlets.
The water taxi dropped us off at the Sandfly Point shelter.
This is actually the end of the Great Walk for those who do the 4-day backpack.
1) Tattered Rag Lichen 2) Mustard Yellow Polypore
A shelter was just on the other side of the bridge.
Giant Gate Falls was our turn-back point.
Jan. 28: Meuller Hut
11 km /1180m gain / 1800m high / 5 1/2 hours MT
This is a very steep trail, the last hour being on a boulder slope.
The forecast was for cloud & showers in the morning. We weren't planning on going all the way to the hut, having four consecutive hiking days behind us, with just one day off inbetween. But the day did not turn out as planned...
What would be small shrubs in Canada, are almost trees in New Zealand.
Taking the first of 2200 steps!!!
The mist and cloud clung to the slopes, keeping visibility down to about 20'.
The plan was to climb the 600m to the Sealy Tarns viewpoint. There was a sign by a junction here, stating Sealy Tarns and underneath, Mueller Hut, with a small arrow pointing left.
1) 2) Cusion Plant
About half an hour after the sign I checked the stats on my Garmin66i and realized we'd climbed 750m. That meant we'd missed the turn off to the Sealy Tarns. How did that happen? What would Wendy & Denise think if they didn't see us there?
But I was reasoning; There's only one other way to go, so they'd know where we went. And if it took us another hour & 250m gain to get to the Mueller Hut, then there's a good chance that by then the cloud would start to clear (according to the forecast).
California Buttercup are a rare species.
So we carried on to the hut. While we had lunch we were hoping and waiting for the sky to begin to clear. But after half an hour we were getting too cold. The inside of the hut was warm but was filled with registered overnighters.
So we started down. But it was only a few minutes before we got a glimpse of the Mueller Glaciers! I was so excited! We took a chance and it had paid off!
As we stood watching, a chute to the left of this slope kept rumbling with rock-fall.
