The Routeburn Track

The Routeburn is another of New Zealand's Great Walks.  In some ways it is the favored track of the Kiwi folk. If the Milford Track was daunting and threatening and powerful in its beauty, the Routeburn is simply a great hike on a great trail with some great scenery.  The Milford Track is a rain forest. The Routeburn is a mountain hike. I fell in love with the Routeburn.  

I almost bailed out of the Routeburn Track. After my adventures on the Milford Track I was beat, my legs and knees were achy and my spirit was weary.  I wasn't sure I could face climbing over a mountain in rain and cold and possibly snow.

I decided I'd at least catch my scheduled shuttle bus to the trailhead.  If it was nasty I just wouldn't get out. It wasn't nasty and I got out. I decided I'd hike to the first hut and if it was nasty I'd stay overnight and return to the trailhead. It wasn't nasty so I hiked to the Howden Hut where I had a reservation for my first night.

I arrived early in the day and asked the ranger if it was at all possible for me to go forward from Howden to Mackensie.  I expected him to just say no. "Hey mate", he said. "Let me call up there and see if they can take you. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait about five minutes for me to get through." And indeed he did get through. AND THERE WAS ROOM!

Now a word of explanation about this hike.  I could reserve a place at Howden, some 1 1/2 hours from the trailhead.  But I couldn't reserve the next hut (The McKensie). So I skipped that hut and reserved the next one (The Routeburn Falls Hut). The problem was that the distance between Howden and R. Falls is about 15 miles, up and over the top of the mountain, and then steep down (which I do slowly). I was looking at roughly  10 - 12 hours of backpacking in very uncertain conditions.  In short, I was dreading it.  (One more reason I was going to bail).  But when the warden gave me the go ahead, everything fell in to place. And the Routeburn opened her arms and welcomed me.

As I hiked up the mountain I ran in to other hikers coming down (this track can be done from either end). "Ah mate, it's a good tramp from here - but not before you get through the waterfall."  And a wonderful waterfall it was indeed.

After a good night's sleep halfway up the Routeburn in the welcoming McKensie Hut it was time to head to Harris Pass The trail was a highline trail with the mountains of Fjordlands rising across the valley. It was cool and peaceful and quiet.

 
 

The pass at the summit is called Harris Saddle.  A shelter is there to get away from the winds, the rains, the snow. But this day it was just a nice place to leave my pack and take the steep side track up to Conical Hill.  Though a steep and rocky climb, it is worth the effort.  From the top of Conical Hill there are vistas for the whole world reaching all the way out to the Tasman Sea and all the down to the valley floor.  Amazing!

And then it was time to come down.  Down to the shelter - pick up my pack - and down to the Routeburn Falls Hut.  And just before the hut - true to its name - are the wonderful Routeburn Falls. Yet one more in land filled with waterfalls.

The Routeburn Falls Hut is surely the most wonderful of all the huts in the Fjordlands.  It sits on a precipice just below the falls.  And it looks out onto the mountains and valley below.  Kind of like you imagine a chalet in Switzerland but better. New Zealand style better.This is what lay beyond the huge windows of a very simple but most welcome hut:

 
 


The next morning I slept in, had a leisurely breakfast and repacked by gear for the final walk down to the valley and out.  It was a spectacular day.  The trail passed down through the upper valley and then down again into beautiful forested paths along a powerful river.  It was a wonderful celebration of all that was good in the Routeburn.

The Milford Track

The Milford Track is one of the great legendary hiking trails of the world.  It sits in Fjordland National Park and passes through some of the world's most magnificent scenery. It is also located in one of the wettest places in the world.  The next four days, and the three nights in the huts will remain forever memorable.




                                                                                Day One

The trip begins from Te Anau.  A van transport up to Te Anau Downs, little more than a put in to the lake. Then a boat crossing the lake to an equally small take out where the track begins.  The lake crossing itself is amazingly beautiful.

 Once off the boat we headed in through the rain forest.  Though overcast and drizzly, it proved to be a most enjoyable hike.  The rain forest is filled with the sounds of birds, and the plant life is rich and verdant. The lakes are calm and inviting. And not too far beyond our beginning point we pass the Glade Hut, the first hut, a private hut for guided walkers.

We also crossed the first of many many suspended (and swinging bridges) that afforded a crossing over many a river and stream and abyss.

 

 
 

And then we arrived at our hut, the Clinton Hut.  Typical of the huts to come. Bunkhouses to the left and center. A common room with stoves and sinks for cooking to the right.  Find a bunk, throw out your sleeping bag - and you are home.

Day Two

It rained through the night.  The warden held us at the hut until it was confirmed that we could move on.  Then off we went.  It remained cloudy most of the day until around noon. Passed beautiful rivers. Passing deep blue mountains.  Marveling at vistas and views. Gawking embarrassingly like a tourist.

Then the rain began again.  And the waterfalls poured. We passed through the valley floor looking up as very wet fireworks exploded before our eyes.

 

 

 

 At noon it began to rain some more. And then a bit more.  We arrived at Mintauro Hut around 2:00 - just in time. It began to pour.  And pour.  What had been rain turned in to a torrent. And the torrent which began in earnest around 2:00 continued.  Relentlessly continued. Well into the night it continued. Torrential rains, unmitigated in intensity.  (We grateful to be inside our hut, warm and fed). So heavy was the rain that the warden again held us until she received word whether or not everything had been flood. And there we stayed, through night and awoke - to quiet. The rain had stopped. The warden gave us the green light. We could go forward. 

We then began to climb up toward McKinnon Pass. 

Near the top of the pass there is a memorial to Mr McKinnon who discovered the Milford Track and its route from the huge inland lake to the sound leading to the sea. 
 

And then we reached the summit.  Not like the postcards. But caught up in mystery. Powerful and spirit-filling. A place for being small and hoping you haven't been noticed.

An then the Milford Track got tough on those daring to tread her trail.  Then it was time to go down. And it wasn't pretty. The main track was closed because the torrential rains had torn a bridge from its moorings.  We were to use the alternate track.  A steep, bitterly rocky, precipitous downward spit of a trail that soon became the pathway of choice for the torrents of rain spilling from the mountain side.  Each step, each turn, each reach beyond rocks slickened by rain - each moment, minute was painstakingly challenged by the danger of a bad fall, a twisted ankle. A misstep courted only disaster. For an hour (or more - it seemed without end). Step by step I descended.  I was bereft of companions who were holding back at the summit shelter - but not alone. I walked with angels and the powerful sense of protection. Slowly I arrived at the great waterfall and the manmade steps that would lead me down through the tumultuous canyon to the valley floor below.   Until at last I arrived at Southerland Falls. And the sun broke through the clouds and brought us warmth.

Southerland Falls is one of the worlds great waterfalls.  This is not your usual pouring off the top kind of waterfall.  This one's huge.  It topples in three great leaps from the very top of the mountain all the way to the valley floor.  It is magnificent - and one of the reasons that the Milford Track is justly famous.

 

And from there it was a quick hour hike on flat ground to the Dumpling Hut and a well earned night's sleep. 

Day Three

 The next morning was clear and the sun shone and the Milford Track showed off like a preening cat. She had only her beauty to show.

Upon arriving at Milford Sound I took a boat trip through the sound out to the Tasman Sea.  It was very beautiful. The pictures are nice so I include them here. Those are seals lying on the rocks.