A week ago Nolan and I set off from Queenstown to do the Routeburn. We walked to Routeburn flat the first day. Typical New Zedland beech forest with waterfalls and a lovely river. I spent an hour sitting by the river watching water slip over some rocks - it was only a 6k day. It rained hard that night, and we got soaked in the tent. The next day was an easy 13k, a bit of rain and a bit of wind, and absolutely amazing. The rain made the waterfalls thunder down the Routeburn. When we crossed Harris saddle we got a view of the Darran mountains, the most spectacular mountain range I've seen. It was so spectacular I left my water bottle at the saddle shelter, allowing me to run back and experience it two more times.
We then crossed an arete and started down to the Lake MacKenzie campground. Stunning sheer rock walls around us, and beautiful peaks at the head of the lake - this is the only view that's ever brought tears to my eyes. We awoke at MacKenzie and walked out to key summit, getting spectacular views of Lake Marian across the valley, then walked down to the road, finishing the Routeburn - but the day was far from over. We caught a ride heading north along the Milford Highway (the most beautiful road in the world, I am certain). Just before Homer tunnel, we got out and walked into the gertrude Valley, between 3 mountains that shoot 1300m up from the valley floor. We climbed up to gertrude Saddle, ascending 500m, and pitched our tent because it was getting dark, it was completely foggy, and starting to rain.
We didn't sleep well; we've been learning for the last week that my tent is not waterproof. At 5am I called it quits for sleeping, put on every stitch of clothing I have (thanks for the necktube, shirt, underwear, and hat IO Merino - and thanks for the Rain Kilt ZPacks), and stepped out into the fierce wind on the saddle. There were no clouds to the west and the valley beneath me was illuminated by the full moon. We were on the saddle of the most beautiful, most important place in the world. Imagine 7 Angels Landings (in Zion), side by side, covered in glaciers, with the Milford Sound down at the end. My feet and hands numbed within a couple minutes, so I cooked some tea and stared out at these vast, unthinkable mountains. After an hour or two the sun hit the glaciers on Mt Patuki and bathed it in a warm pink-orange glow.
Around 9 or 10 we broke camp and headed back down to gertrude Valley, and hitched up to the Milford sound, got a good view of Mitre Peak (which we could see from Gertrude Saddle), then hitched down to Te Anau. In the Te Anau DOC center we ran into Mike Lanza & Jeff Wilhelm (or something along those lines), and we went and camped in a shelter at the base of the Kepler track. The following morning we left camp around 7 and climbed up to Luxmore Hut. We arrived at the lovely early hour of 10:30, allowing us to dry all our wet clothes, nap, read, and go check out Luxmore Caves. We spent an hour and a half in the limestone Caves, going deeper and deeper, until we got to the second junction within the cave and I decided that it'd be a shame to lose our way and starve. The next day we walked along the ridge for the most of the day, experiencing some swift 50kph winds. After leaving the second shelter I got surprise-bombed from a trio of cheeky Keas, reaching their parroty talons out and egging each other on to grab my hair. I escaped and they moved on above me, parading around and showing off their beautiful plumage.
Down at Iris Burn I walked out to a nice waterfall, then we spent the evening around a fire talking to some Californians and a Montanaman. There's not many Americans here - we were surprised to have so many of us together.
Today we walked out of the Kepler, saw Stu after he finished the Dusky (I may have to get a restraining order placed on him), and into a hostel in Te Anau, where the wifi is broke.
We then crossed an arete and started down to the Lake MacKenzie campground. Stunning sheer rock walls around us, and beautiful peaks at the head of the lake - this is the only view that's ever brought tears to my eyes. We awoke at MacKenzie and walked out to key summit, getting spectacular views of Lake Marian across the valley, then walked down to the road, finishing the Routeburn - but the day was far from over. We caught a ride heading north along the Milford Highway (the most beautiful road in the world, I am certain). Just before Homer tunnel, we got out and walked into the gertrude Valley, between 3 mountains that shoot 1300m up from the valley floor. We climbed up to gertrude Saddle, ascending 500m, and pitched our tent because it was getting dark, it was completely foggy, and starting to rain.
We didn't sleep well; we've been learning for the last week that my tent is not waterproof. At 5am I called it quits for sleeping, put on every stitch of clothing I have (thanks for the necktube, shirt, underwear, and hat IO Merino - and thanks for the Rain Kilt ZPacks), and stepped out into the fierce wind on the saddle. There were no clouds to the west and the valley beneath me was illuminated by the full moon. We were on the saddle of the most beautiful, most important place in the world. Imagine 7 Angels Landings (in Zion), side by side, covered in glaciers, with the Milford Sound down at the end. My feet and hands numbed within a couple minutes, so I cooked some tea and stared out at these vast, unthinkable mountains. After an hour or two the sun hit the glaciers on Mt Patuki and bathed it in a warm pink-orange glow.
Around 9 or 10 we broke camp and headed back down to gertrude Valley, and hitched up to the Milford sound, got a good view of Mitre Peak (which we could see from Gertrude Saddle), then hitched down to Te Anau. In the Te Anau DOC center we ran into Mike Lanza & Jeff Wilhelm (or something along those lines), and we went and camped in a shelter at the base of the Kepler track. The following morning we left camp around 7 and climbed up to Luxmore Hut. We arrived at the lovely early hour of 10:30, allowing us to dry all our wet clothes, nap, read, and go check out Luxmore Caves. We spent an hour and a half in the limestone Caves, going deeper and deeper, until we got to the second junction within the cave and I decided that it'd be a shame to lose our way and starve. The next day we walked along the ridge for the most of the day, experiencing some swift 50kph winds. After leaving the second shelter I got surprise-bombed from a trio of cheeky Keas, reaching their parroty talons out and egging each other on to grab my hair. I escaped and they moved on above me, parading around and showing off their beautiful plumage.
Down at Iris Burn I walked out to a nice waterfall, then we spent the evening around a fire talking to some Californians and a Montanaman. There's not many Americans here - we were surprised to have so many of us together.
Today we walked out of the Kepler, saw Stu after he finished the Dusky (I may have to get a restraining order placed on him), and into a hostel in Te Anau, where the wifi is broke.