Don't hold your horses

I have returned from the Milford Track and have survived all 53 kilometers of it. I wish I could properly describe the absolute picturesque nature of the track. It is the quintessential New Zealand tramp, and has earned every ounce of that title. It encompasses so much of New Zealand in one area: it has tons of flowing waterfalls, incredible plants and greenery, rivers to ford, huge looming mountains to climb, peaceful lakes in hidden spaces, grand open plains, giant rocks and boulders, friendly backpackers wherever you look--this has easily made my top three coolest weekends in New Zealand (I refuse to pick favorites, but this is awfully close).

We left Dunedin on Thursday afternoon and spent the night in Te Anau at a quiet backpackers. It was Dan's 21st birthday, so we ate dinner at a sports bar in Te Anau and prepared for the next day. We got up super-early on Friday to park our car at the DOC and took a boat from Te Anau Downs out to the starting point of the track. It was raining on the boatride so I got nervous that it would be raining the whole time, but when we started out it was just drizzling. The whole first day, we hiked along a winding river. We condensed the track and hiked the first two days in one, so we hiked past Clinton Hut and onto the next one. We had gorgeous views the whole time of the looming mountains with fresh snow on top and open plains. The last two hours were uphill, and we finally got to the hut right before nightfall. After some delicious tramping dinner of pre-packaged pumpkin and garlic ravioli, we called it a night at 8. Since there's no electricity, there's really nothing to do and everybody just goes to sleep!

Day 2 was the coolest day by far--we hiked up the McKinnon Pass, up past the treeline and into the snow! We had snowball fights all the way up and stopped a number of times to marvel at the absolutely breathtaking views. The view from the top was just stunning--we were standing knee-deep in snow, staring at the mountain peaks surrounding you at eye level and just breathing in fresh mountain air. There were some frozen ice lakes that were so beautiful and some seriously awesome scenery. We even saw an avalanche happen on a nearby mountain. It was incredibly sobering, and we decided we should probably get down the mountain quickly. It's harder to do when you're sludging through slush and snow, though, and I definitely did the splits a few times slipping down in the snow. After crossing a few streams and rivers, we heard this booming, thunderous sound echoing throughout the canyon and looked over to see this giant rockslide down the face of another nearby mountain. It was so loud and so consuming, it was absolutely crazy. We hiked down the rest of the mountain on onto Sutherland Falls, the tallest waterfall in all of New Zealand. We put down our packs and hiked out about an hour out there to see all its splendor. It created a huge amount of wind, and the spray stung our faces with the cold wind. By the time we got back to our packs, it had started raining and we had to hike the last hour in the rain. Back at Dumpling Hut, we dried off by the fire (there was dry wood there! Yesss!) and ate dinner. Everybody else was in the same predicament--drying off their clothes, trying to get warm by the fire, it was a really cozy environment.

Day 3, we hiked along the side of the mountain to Sandfly Point, where a boat came and picked us up. We saw the usual--luscious greenery, booming waterfalls, crossed avalanche paths, climbed over fallen trees and rockslides, walked through streams and rivers, and breathed in the sight of those giant snow-capped mountains--you know, no big deal. 53 kilometers of awesome sights. It's such an incredible place to be, and I feel small even trying to put into words the sights we took in.

All in all, it was one of the coolest weekends of the entire semester, and definitely worth all the time it's taking to recover! I'm nursing two blisters, some seriously sore muscles, and some really wet clothing and supplies. Now it's back to the usual grind of school, papers, exams, and all that comes with being back in Dunedin. It's Janey's 23rd birthday today, so we're heading out to Moeraki for a birthday dinner (I'm off the hook for cooking tonight!) and celebrations out there. Should be a good time!

Big hugs to everybody at home, lovelovelove!

Pictures:

Patrick, me, and Dan by a waterfall on Day 3, about 29 miles in.

Patrick, me, and Dan at the peak of McKinnon Pass.

Day 1: the plains with the river we followed. Check out those snowy peaks in the background.

The sun cresting over the peak of the mountain we climbed up, day 2.

A frozen pond at the top of the mountain.

Dan, Patrick, and me at a different spot, about to head down the face of the mountain again.

Trees reflecting on Hidden Lake, day 2.