2/28/18
NZ has 9 great walks. These are walks that are of considerable beauty and diversity as well as good trails that allow for people of moderate fitness to be able to complete them. They also have the fanciest of NZ's huts, with wardens managing most of them. The great walks aren't more special than other great walks, they just have better infrastructure and trails, and they were created in part, I believe, to focus tourists towards several trails while keeping the many other trails relatively free from the average tourist that doesn't have the dedication to finding other amazing trails, can't read a map, and could put themselves at major risk in the wilderness from lack of preparedness and skills. I think this is a good plan. 90% of hiking tourists to NZ focus on the great walks, which means most of the other trails we did had relatively little traffic and booking huts were pretty easy. For the great walks, I had to book the huts 7-8 months in advance. The most famous, Milford Track, books up over a year in advance. However, other huts we visited, we were able to just show up at, and sometimes had the huts alone. The great walks also serve as a primary way that the NZ department of conservation makes money from tourists. Almost all of NZ's national parks and dept of conservation (DOC) parks are free. However, huts on great walks range from $40-90 kiwi dollars per night per person. And they are almost always full throughout the main tourist season, so it's a great way for them to make money, which I think is a good plan. The DOC manages over 950 huts in NZ. With other agencies managing huts, NZ has >1200 huts! That is amazing!! I love huts, especially in a place like NZ where it can rain a lot, so it's nice to have a dry place to shelter as opposed to a potentially wet tent. It also makes for a lighter pack with no tent or mat needed and often less extra dry clothes. The DOC has 4 levels of huts in NZ. The great walk huts, which are expensive but very cush. They even have gas and stoves for cooking provided. Serviced huts are $15 kiwi dollars. Serviced huts have mattresses, water supply, toilets, hand washing facilities, and heating available with fuel. They may have cooking facilities with fuel and a warden. Standard huts are $5. They have mattresses, water supply, and toilets. They too have wood stoves (but only below treeline..or bushline as it's called in NZ). Basic huts are free and provide basic shelter. Besides DOC huts, there are also many huts managed by private alpine organizations or ski clubs.
Because you have to book great walks in advance, thus removing some freedom in travel, and because of how expensive they are, but b/c we did want to experience some, we decided to only do 2 of them, 2 of the more famous alpine ones.
Today we started on the Routeburn track. It starts in Mt. Aspiring NP and ends in Fjordland NP. They recommend doing it in 3 days, but we had plans to do it in 2 days because the trail is relatively easy and we're pretty fit. The beginning of the hike was through pretty rainforest (a paradise for Elisha's Mr. Gnome) and along a glacial blue rushing river. Eventually we climbed more steeply up to Routeburn Falls Hut, which sat right at tree line and had nice views down the valley. Our plan was to spend the night there, then the next day hike the rest of the route to the end, where we would have to hitchhike back to queenstown and then the trail head. However, the weather forecast showed that the next day, our day up the pass and in the alpine, was going to be rainy with gale winds. So we decided to do a huge out and back today to see all the pretty sections in nicer weather and then have an easy day back to the van the next day, thus eliminating the need to hitchhike.
So we hiked up the pass to Harris Saddle, past pretty Harris lake. There were lots of waterfalls along the way. From the pass, we hiked to the top of Conical peak for amazing 360 degree views including Harris lake, the Hollyford valley, lots of glaciated peaks and even the ocean and a fjord. After descending the little peak, we hike the long alpine section with the valley a steep drop below and the glaciated peaks just across the valley. We eventually reached the overlook for McKenzie Lake, a pretty green lake at the foot of very rocky mountains. McKenzie lake is where most people stay who are doing the trek in 3 days. From McKenzie lake it's just a few miles through forest to the fjordland trailhead (we would do a chunk of this hike while climbing to a view several days later when we were in fjordland). We decided the view from above McKenzie lake would be better than being down there, so from there we turned around to go back up the pass and back to our hut. We hiked the last couple of miles in a mild sprinkle and arrived to the hut just as it started raining. The hut warden was Australian, and he was really cool. He seemed to like Elisha and I, and he gave us his personal book on the huts of NZ to look at overnight. It's such a sweet book!
3/1/18
We woke up to rain at the hut and mist views. We hiked back down to our campervan and then started the drive back to Queenstown. We stopped at Glenorchy and Lake Wakatipu, which had nice views, along the way. In Q-town we did some grocery shopping and eating of dominos pizza while we did laundry at the laundromat. That night we camped alongside Lake Wakatipo.
NZ has 9 great walks. These are walks that are of considerable beauty and diversity as well as good trails that allow for people of moderate fitness to be able to complete them. They also have the fanciest of NZ's huts, with wardens managing most of them. The great walks aren't more special than other great walks, they just have better infrastructure and trails, and they were created in part, I believe, to focus tourists towards several trails while keeping the many other trails relatively free from the average tourist that doesn't have the dedication to finding other amazing trails, can't read a map, and could put themselves at major risk in the wilderness from lack of preparedness and skills. I think this is a good plan. 90% of hiking tourists to NZ focus on the great walks, which means most of the other trails we did had relatively little traffic and booking huts were pretty easy. For the great walks, I had to book the huts 7-8 months in advance. The most famous, Milford Track, books up over a year in advance. However, other huts we visited, we were able to just show up at, and sometimes had the huts alone. The great walks also serve as a primary way that the NZ department of conservation makes money from tourists. Almost all of NZ's national parks and dept of conservation (DOC) parks are free. However, huts on great walks range from $40-90 kiwi dollars per night per person. And they are almost always full throughout the main tourist season, so it's a great way for them to make money, which I think is a good plan. The DOC manages over 950 huts in NZ. With other agencies managing huts, NZ has >1200 huts! That is amazing!! I love huts, especially in a place like NZ where it can rain a lot, so it's nice to have a dry place to shelter as opposed to a potentially wet tent. It also makes for a lighter pack with no tent or mat needed and often less extra dry clothes. The DOC has 4 levels of huts in NZ. The great walk huts, which are expensive but very cush. They even have gas and stoves for cooking provided. Serviced huts are $15 kiwi dollars. Serviced huts have mattresses, water supply, toilets, hand washing facilities, and heating available with fuel. They may have cooking facilities with fuel and a warden. Standard huts are $5. They have mattresses, water supply, and toilets. They too have wood stoves (but only below treeline..or bushline as it's called in NZ). Basic huts are free and provide basic shelter. Besides DOC huts, there are also many huts managed by private alpine organizations or ski clubs.
Because you have to book great walks in advance, thus removing some freedom in travel, and because of how expensive they are, but b/c we did want to experience some, we decided to only do 2 of them, 2 of the more famous alpine ones.
Today we started on the Routeburn track. It starts in Mt. Aspiring NP and ends in Fjordland NP. They recommend doing it in 3 days, but we had plans to do it in 2 days because the trail is relatively easy and we're pretty fit. The beginning of the hike was through pretty rainforest (a paradise for Elisha's Mr. Gnome) and along a glacial blue rushing river. Eventually we climbed more steeply up to Routeburn Falls Hut, which sat right at tree line and had nice views down the valley. Our plan was to spend the night there, then the next day hike the rest of the route to the end, where we would have to hitchhike back to queenstown and then the trail head. However, the weather forecast showed that the next day, our day up the pass and in the alpine, was going to be rainy with gale winds. So we decided to do a huge out and back today to see all the pretty sections in nicer weather and then have an easy day back to the van the next day, thus eliminating the need to hitchhike.
So we hiked up the pass to Harris Saddle, past pretty Harris lake. There were lots of waterfalls along the way. From the pass, we hiked to the top of Conical peak for amazing 360 degree views including Harris lake, the Hollyford valley, lots of glaciated peaks and even the ocean and a fjord. After descending the little peak, we hike the long alpine section with the valley a steep drop below and the glaciated peaks just across the valley. We eventually reached the overlook for McKenzie Lake, a pretty green lake at the foot of very rocky mountains. McKenzie lake is where most people stay who are doing the trek in 3 days. From McKenzie lake it's just a few miles through forest to the fjordland trailhead (we would do a chunk of this hike while climbing to a view several days later when we were in fjordland). We decided the view from above McKenzie lake would be better than being down there, so from there we turned around to go back up the pass and back to our hut. We hiked the last couple of miles in a mild sprinkle and arrived to the hut just as it started raining. The hut warden was Australian, and he was really cool. He seemed to like Elisha and I, and he gave us his personal book on the huts of NZ to look at overnight. It's such a sweet book!
3/1/18
We woke up to rain at the hut and mist views. We hiked back down to our campervan and then started the drive back to Queenstown. We stopped at Glenorchy and Lake Wakatipu, which had nice views, along the way. In Q-town we did some grocery shopping and eating of dominos pizza while we did laundry at the laundromat. That night we camped alongside Lake Wakatipo.
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