Walking, Waterfalls and Weather: The Milford Track
Trip Start
Jan 14, 2008
1
10
22
Trip End
Mar 05, 2008
Queenstown,
New Zealand
Monday, February 4, 2008
Day 1: We woke up early to finish packing up the backpacks that Ultimate Hikes had given us to use. They are a little smaller than what we thought they would be, so packing for 5 days in variable weather was a bit of a challenge. We actually were quite surprised by how light they ended up being thanks to some last minute purchases at a few of the many outdoor outfitters here in town. We would be carrying all of our own belongings over the 33.6 miles over MacKinnon Pass, so we needed to be light. I enjoyed my last bath at the Sofitel and after a buffet breakfast of Lox, Bagels, fresh cream cheese, OJ and coffee, we checked all of our earthly belongings into storage at the hotel and walked across the street with our tiny backpacks to check in for our trip.
Evidently we were dead last to arrive, so we chucked our packs into the bus and were on our way. We sat near the front of the bus and took in the beautiful scenery on the way to Te Anau, the gateway to the most famous walks in the world, including the Milford. We listened to commentary about the regions colorful history and even got a glimpse of the historic Kingstown Flier steam engine train, whose conductor pulled the whistle to give the bus a little thrill. Andrew and I seem to never tire of the sheep on the side of the road and spent the better part of the two hour drive judging them. Some were naked and adorable, some had too much wool, some needed a bath, some were perfectly wife, but the little lambs continue to be our favorite.
We stopped for lunch in Te Anau and sat with a nice couple from Lucerne Switzerland named Catherine and Heikki who have a daughter who lives in SF and works for Linked In. We also sat with a girl traveling alone named Anita who was on Holiday from Australia before finishing Nursing School. After some tea, fruit and sandwiches we boarded the bus that took us to the ferry with the other 46 people we would be walking with.
Upon boarding the ferry that would take us across Lake Te Anau into the wilderness, we learned that Lake Te Anau is the second largest lake in New Zealand, however since it is over 1200 feet deep, it has the most volume of all of the lakes in the Country (which there are many). The scenery was amazing and our surroundings completely untouched by civilization. I am not sure where else in the world you can find a lake so beautiful with not a single home in sight.
Upon arriving on the other side, we walked a short distance with one of our four guides, Emily, and were the first to arrive to our home for the evening, a trend that continued on the 5 day journey. Glade House is located in a beautiful valley right on the Clinton River with views of the mountains we would climb. We had our own room with a private bathroom and a hot shower. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was quite nice for being in the middle of nature. Many of the other travelers had bunk beds, so we felt pretty lucky to have a nice Queen bed.
We took a short hike around the area to learn about the native bird, animal and plant life with our guide Ant, who we really enjoyed. He had done the Track over 42 times, so he had a lot of experience and was very knowledgeable. We filled our water bottle from one of the rivers, which is unthinkable in the US, but here the water is 99% pure and is cold and delicious. On our hike we came across a curious little bird that seemed to be posing for snapshots. We could not believe how friendly the little guy was and we learned from Ant, he is a South Island Bush Robin, a bird that is known for coming up and hopping on your "tramping boots".
After a lovely dinner of local Venison, potatoes and veggies with our new friends from Lucerne and a father and son team named Matt and Mark (fellow Sox and Pats fans from Belmont Mass), we had a few drinks and enjoyed introductions from our fellow walkers. Half of us were from Japan, with the other half from the US, Australia, England, Switzerland and New Zealand. Andrew and I LOVED the Japanese with their funky hiking outfits, relative shyness mixed with overwhelming enthusiasm for being in nature and their extreme politeness. They sang their national anthem for us with pride and we determined right then and there it was a good group. After a hot shower, we readied ourselves for bed awaiting the generator to shut down and come on again at 6:45am.
Day 2: The lights went on promptly at 6:45am. It took us a bit of time to wake up which turned out to be a blessing as we had missed the rush for the make-your-own lunch buffet. Andrew and I made ourselves P,B & J's, which were incomprehensible to the Kiwi's and Australian's who looked at us with confusion and commented on the American's love of peanut butter... they have their Vegemite and we have our Peanut Butter. We also made some egg salad sandwiches which we knew would hit the spot at lunch.
After our porridge, eggs, toast, hash browns and coffee, we packed up our belongings and headed out on the trail by 8:45am. The first part of our 9+ mile walk was very scenic and the group managed to stick together. We crossed one of many suspension bridges across the Clinton River and followed it along through dense Forrest, foliage and tall Beech Trees. We stopped briefly along the first few miles to check out some great bush robins who loved to hop around us and we took a couple detours to check out big trees and wetlands before we began our climb through the Clinton Valley (also called the Valley of the perpendicular as there are 4,000 foot sheer walk walls surrounding the path. We continued hiking to the sounds of our walking sticks clicking along with a symphony of crickets, bees, bell birds, robins and the river flowing next to us for almost 4 hours before arriving at Hirare Falls Shelter for lunch. Our guides gave us some hot soup and juice and we ate our aforementioned sandwiches which you can imagine were unbelievably delicious. We had beautiful views surrounding us including some gorgeous waterfalls flowing down huge mountains in the distance. It is hard to describe the beauty of the Milford Track on our first day. It appears as though it has not been touched by human influence other than the narrow path that would take us through the valley opening up to large prairies and then closing back into jungle as quickly as the prairies arrived.
After finishing lunch we embarked on the second leg of our journey to Pampolona Lodge nestled at the foot of MacKinnon Pass. Andrew and I were relatively alone on our walk and checked out some amazing lakes waterfalls and bird life along the way. At mile 7, we were fairly eager to get to the lodge and shared a mini-Cadberry Crunchie to give us the energy we needed to get up the 2-mile hill to our hot shower. Upon arriving at Pampolona Lodge, that could only be described as a large tree house in the mountains, surrounded by 4,000 high cliffs and waterfalls, our feet killed and our bodies ached. I can also say matter of factly we didn't smell great... In fact, we stunk!
After hand washing our laundry and placing it in the drying room, we stretched and reflected on our day. We had been incredibly lucky with the beautiful sunny weather we had as the Milford Track is known for its rain. Rudyard Kipling once described the track as "The Eighth Wonder of the World... in rain!". We loved the fact that we were relatively on our own and that everyone moved at their own pace and that there was always a guide available when you had a question. We were amongst the first to arrive at the lodge, so we enjoyed a beer, some salami and cheese which is great after a long hike and played a game of Hearts with Anita and Heikki. We had a carb packed dinner of Penne Bolignese with our friends from Switzerland and Carolyn and Jeremy from Melbourne. We learned that Carolyn was a journalist for Channel 9 and Jeremy, her boyfriend was a 3 handicap which gave he and Andrew a lot to talk about. Shortly after dinner, we retired to our room to await the 6:15am lights that would wake us up in the morning for our 13 mile day.
Day 3: I awake at 3:15am to the pitter patter of rain on our window and go back to sleep knowing we would be hiking in the rain. 6:15am the lights go on and again we took our time getting out of bed. We emerged from our room engulfed in rain and darkness. After making our lunch and having a quick breakfast where the weather seemed to be the topic of conversation, we put on our hiking socks, lightweight pants, a long-sleeve wicking shirt, rain jackets, a wool hat and our Trail Running Shoes, which were the only ones out of the 46 pairs of hiking boots that surrounded us... It was 7:30am when we left our room and apparently the Japanese contingent had gotten the memo that it was going to rain as they looked as if they were setting out to summit Everest. They had some of the most amazing equipment I had ever seen. Pink Neon North Face outfits, rain suits, yellow gators, red Gore Tex suits and incredible hiking boots. I felt like a wimp in my Adidas track shoes and lightweight pants. Despite feeling under-dressed, we set out on our journey to make the summit and climb down to our next lodge.
The first part of the hike was quite enjoyable. Andrew and I made it to the front of the pack where we would remain for the rest of the day. We hiked through lush green jungle and areas where the bush had been devastated due to avalanches in the Spring. The rain was fairly light to moderate and though we were not soaked we certainly were not dry. We crossed a few streams careful not to get our feet too wet, which was an effort that would prove to be fruitless as we got deeper into our journey. We stopped at Mintaro hut where the independent backpackers who have no showers and travel without a guide live and I was happy to be a part of the guided walk we were on. It was about that point when the skies began to open up and the rain started coming down in sheets. The trail required 100% concentration, which Andrew came to learn after walking backwards and falling into a ditch.
We determined it was fruitless to delay the inevitable and started our 6 mile-journey to the top of the pass. We came to find that 4 miles were incredibly technical and included switchbacks, large boulders, narrow steep paths, with thousands of feet to the side and water flowing in every direction. By the time we reached the mile 14 marker, we were soaked to the bone. Water was flowing down in rivers on what was supposed to be our path and water was squishing around in our shoes, our pants were stuck to our legs, our shirts under our rain gear was soaked and to say it was intense is an understatement. But we trudged on without complaint and were rewarded between miles 14 and 16 when the trees would open up to present us with spectacular views of huge waterfalls falling down the surrounding 4,000 foot cliffs. At one point we counted over 75 waterfalls in the distance, despite the heavy rain and cloud cover. We could now see why the Milford Track was almost as beautiful in the rain as it is in sun. The waterfalls were just beautiful! All of the water came from the rain and it was a surreal experience.
After 3 hours of climbing in cold hard rain, we made it to the MacKinnon Memorial which was pelted by near gale force winds. We snapped a quick picture, had a cup of hot chocolate given to us by Ant and quickly continued another brutal 20 minutes to the Pass hut where we had multiple cups of hot chicken broth and Milo (hot chocolate). We stripped off some of our drenched clothes and replaced them with fresh warm garments and stood under the sole heater before others in the group began to arrive like drowned rats. We stood in the hut for 40 minutes hoping fro the rain and wind to subside, only coming to find that after putting on our wet packs and gear that it had gotten worse. We began our 3 1/2 mile technical decent, known for its broken knees, ankles and various other injuries, only to fine that the trail had been made worse by full blown waterfalls which had begun to take out portions of the path. Our path was a small river and at this point, we simply trudged through the water that was up to our knees in some places. We found that giving in proved to be more enjoyable.
As hellish as this may sound as you are reading this in the warmth of your home or office, Andrew and I were loving it. We were giggling and remarking about how different this was than most of our weekends. In one single day, we had made up for 10 Saturday's of sitting on the couch watching College Football.
Our Aussie friends, Carolyn, Jeremy and Anita were with us for most of the hike and together we found our footing on rocks that were not meant to hold human weight. At one point, halfway down the mountain, the valley opened up, the rain lightened a bit and we were surrounded by huge waterfalls flowing into the now roaring river below us. It was an amazing experience that almost made us forget what had gotten us here.
Towards the end of the last mile, our knees hurt, our backs hurt, we hurt. We were ready to get to Quintin Lodge. So ready in fact that in our haste, I tumbled down the hill on my bum. Not so much fun! That made us even on falls. When we finally arrived 7 hours after our departure, we had a hot shower, a 30-minute rest and headed out for another 3 mile walk to see Sutherland Falls, the worlds 5th highest waterfall. We figured, we were there and no matter how tired we were, we had to do it. We headed out in clean dry clothes and came to find that just as we had arrived at the Lodge the skies cleared up and it was beautiful again! We climbed the mile and a half trail in less than 20-minutes, a feat that would take double that time with our packs. The falls were certainly worth the extra push as it felt like a helicopter was hovering over where the falls ended. It was cold, wet, loud and pretty amazing to see a waterfall falling almost 2,000 feet to a pool of water. We had had enough water for the day so opted to not go behind the falls to get soaked all over again and headed back down the trail a lot more slowly to take another shower and await dinner.
We sat with our Aussie friends again and listened to our guides give us the game plan for the next two days complete with a slide show. Knowing that we had 13.6 miles ahead of us the next day was not very comforting, but we went to bed sore with that thought in mind and still managed to sleep.
Day 4: We woke up 15 minutes after the lights flicked on. It was 6:30am and we trudged off to make our usual sandwiches. I knew today 2 sandwiches would be necessary to get us through. It was beautiful out, a far cry from the day before. We set off from the lodge after breakfast around 7:45am, still a little damp from the day before as our packs had not fully dried. We were in good spirits and started off at a nice clip and past those who had left before us. Surprisingly, we felt good. We admired the dense foliage and greenery that surrounded us and caught tiny glimpses of Tom Tom's guarding their territory. The first 5 miles, though technical and very rocky proved to be kinda fun. We passed Diamond Creek and danger mountain before coming to our first stop at 10:30am for a hot chocolate. Andrew and I were the second to arrive and eager to cover the next 4 1/2 miles to the lunch stop. We snapped a few photos at Bell Rock, a rock that was carved out by water and had flipped over to create a bell like form, and Mackay Falls and continued on our way through the rain Forest.
Somewhere between mile markers 27 and 30 the wheels started to come up. The uneven rocks were starting to twist our ankles and our concentration was waning... Here is where Andrew wanted to take over the journal writing, so here is the end of the journey in his words:
"Ok, so I've stayed quiet for this entire trek and I thought it was about time to give some of my input. I'll continue where Lisa left off and won't re-trace our steps as it was painful enough the first time.
Lisa and I continued to motor on through the next 3 difficult miles. As we were starving for lunch we climbed up a rocky ledge that was literally cut into the mountain side in 1898. We knew this because the workers carved their names and date into the wall at the top of the ledge. I truly thought this was the most difficult part of the hike, as we were tired, it was slippery and a mis step would result in a fall over the side that would mean a 1,000 foot plummet into the churning river. With my severe distaste for heights, you better believe I was hugging the rocks on the left side and NOT admiring the view on the right. When we reached the top of the ledge, my feet and legs were the most furious with me than they had ever been. Though they would wait until the middle of the night to begin to cramp up. Lisa took a picture of me near the top of the rocky hill and it is certainly safe to assume that she did not receive a smile. Yet there she bounced along in front of me as if we hadn't walked 30 miles in the past couple days.
We passed the 30 mile marker, already over 10 miles into our day, which meant lunch was near! We entered "Giants Gate Falls" crossed a skittish swing-bridge, dropped our packs and got ready to devour lunch. It was a good thing we packed our two sandwiches as it took us 1 minute to finish the first one without a word between us. Rejuvenated by the falls, but annoyed by the sand flies, we were ready to conquer the final 3 1/2 miles that remained of the Track. I refilled our water bottle at the base of the falls (which was pretty cool by the way) and we trudged on down the rocky gravel narrow path. Though 90% of our track was behind us, Lisa and I were dreading the final 1 hour and 45 minutes we had left. Our feet and legs didn't want to cooperate with our brains despite trying to tell them what to do and rocks that we had easily avoided the previous two days were finding their way to trip us up. We forged on.
I forced us to slow down a bit as I was sure one of us was going to bite it soon and we passed mile 31... Thank goodness." This is Lisa interjecting. Andrew seems to think he slowed down, but I am convinced he sped up as I was barely able to keep up. I think he really just wanted to get the hike behind us. OK, back to Andrew.
"I kept telling Lisa that once we hit Mile 32 I would be much happier as I knew we could finish the last mile and a half successfully. We kept walking and walking looking for the green post with #32 on it and passed 2 very smelly German independent walkers who looked like they had been taken out of a German Beer Festival and placed into the track complete with handle bar mustaches and short shorts. We had been timing our miles and were well past the 20-25 minute mile pace we had been keeping after we past them and we were bickering about what time we had started the mile and were taking over/under's on the time we would arrive at mile 32 as we were anxious to finish the damn hike!! It was just then that we saw the green post 200 yards in the distance and quickly gained pace to get to it, knowing that if it was 32 we only had 40 minutes left. Much to my overwhelming surprise and joy we were at mile 33!! The German hikers must have distracted us from seeing the mile 32 marker. Yes, 10 minutes left. FFFF UUUU Milford Track, we conquered you!!! To be honest, I don't remember the last half mile. I may have sped-walked, hell, I may have run, but all I know is that I wanted to finish ASAP. We reached Sand fly Point, the official end of the track and snapped a photo at the finish. I threw off my 25 pound pack never to have it touch my aching back again and loosened the knots in my boots, which would NEVER work that hard again. We had completed the Milford Track. 33.5 miles of ferocious uphill/downhill. Our sense of accomplishment was immense and we celebrated by sitting down and sipping an orange-mango Ade.
We waited for the boat, the Anita Bay, to take us to our hotel for the night where we would shower and have a celebratory dinner with the other hikers. We were psyched to see the hotel had free laundry so that we could wash our gross, smelly, soggy clothes. After tossing our laundry in we headed upstairs to take a well needed nap while Lisa beautified. We headed downstairs for dinner and the awards ceremony where all of the hikers were presented with an award of achievement and group picture. A Kiwi named Paul made a great speech and Jeremy commented on the fact that despite the Japanese having short legs he was impressed that they were so successful. For some reason that was not translated to our Eastern Friends. With that, we were off to the pub to watch the final few minutes of the Rugby Sevens and then we limped off to bed, awaiting the final day of our journey. A sail around Milford Sound and a 5-hour bus ride to our beloved Sofitel.
Upon our arrival to the hotel, I checked us in, while Lisa checked us into the spa. We had a 60-minute unbelievable couples massage in a room that provided us with a personal steam room and shower. Rejuvenated, we had dinner at an old style pizza and spaghetti house and went to bed early. Our bed was so comfortable that we slept soundly for the next 11 hours. We would wake up ready to watch my beloved Pats take on the hated New York Giants. GO PATS!!"
