When we first discussed doing this hike, we thought that three nights might be too many. It was a lot of stops for a very short hike. Considering I did 19.4 km in one day on the Tongariro Crossing, I thought we might be going a little too slow for what we were in for. In the end of it all, I'm so glad we did it the way we did. We had the perfect pace to take in the views. We hiked through forests and along glacial streams. We walked under the shadows of beautiful mountains, along alpine passes and down to the edges of pristine, blue lakes. It was really a sight to take in and I wouldn't have wanted to move any faster along the landscapes of New Zealand.
We left Queenstown on Wednesday. It was a messy pack the night before after happy hour. We'd known what we wanted to take, but as soon as we put it all in our bags realized exactly how heavy this was going to be. With an 8lb tent, sleeping bag, food and a glass bottle of wine each, it was going to be a tough one. We made the right choice by adding hiking poles to our list of necessary items at the last minute. These things saved my life many times as my center of gravity was way off with all of the excess gear on my back.
The first day took us through a Lord of the Rings-like forest with it's trees covered in green and yellow moss. From there we walked out into a field of brown grass with a perfectly symmetrical tree-covered mountain behind. Beyond that, we saw the glacial peaks that we would soon be crossing, and to top it all off a bright blue river flowing through. Absolutely stunning!!!
Our first hut at Routeburn Falls was out of this world. Who knew a facility like this existed out in the middle of nowhere?! We had the catacomb-like bunk beds and the high tech kitchen, well, meaning stoves and tables (way more than I expected). The whole structure was built with a bird's eye view of the surrounding mountains and the valley we had hiked through, all this with the Routeburn Falls flowing quickly behind us. Brad and I felt like the bad kids immediately upon arriving. No one else found the need to bring alcohol on the trek, and we prepped ourselves with two (very heavy) glass bottles of wine. (I need to meet a scientist who will come up with the solution for powdered alcohol....just in case anyone out there knows someone). We had dinner and talked with a few people in the hut, then quickly moved over to the rocks below the falls to take down a bottle of wine after dinner (just trying to reduce the weight!!!).
The next morning, we woke up to the rain that the weatherman was talking about. It was pretty miserable looking...and this was supposed to be the day with all of the views! We were surrounded by a pea soup-like fog that didn't look like it was going anywhere anytime soon. We dawdled around the hut waiting for a break until after 10am and got extremely lucky. The second we set out on the trail in full rain gear, the sun started to break through. We walked through a valley and up through the alpine terrain as the sky turned perfect and revealed all of the peaks around us. It was really spectacular! Especially after expecting nothing good when we awoke in the morning.
After two hours on the trail, we decided to take a side trek up to Conical Hill to see what all this talk was about. The sky was "mainly" clear, as we could see a lot of blue amidst the white, puffy clouds so we figured, why not? We were able to leave our packs at the nearby shelter and we hiked up to the peak of a mountain with the glaciers underneath us. The view was astoundingly beautiful. The peaks were intimidating, but magnificent. Definitely worth the steep climb to the top.
From there, we thought it was all downhill to our next camp at Mackenzie Lake. This very long downhill slope took us across a long traverse of the mountains. Around each corner, we expected to see our destination, but were unfortunately disappointed. Our feet were sore; our packs were heavy. It was 14 km day and we were ready to be done. With only a little complaining, we arrived at the Mackenzie Lake camp eight hours after starting our day. It was our first and only real camp on the trail, and we definitely felt like we were roughing it at that point.
We made the most unsatisfactory dehydrated meal that could possibly exist and then drowned our frustrations with our second, and last bottle of wine (once again, we needed to get rid of the weight!!!). Bedtime came before it got dark on this second night as we were both exhausted and the weather turned cold quickly after the sun ducked behind the mountains.
It was COLD that night. I'm not sure how cold, but I was told that the temperature was 2 degrees (Celsius) when we woke up. I'm carrying a spring sleeping bag with me....meant for temperatures above 50 (Fahrenheit). Wearing every article of clothing I brought and wrapping myself with a sheet tucked inside my sleeping bag, I was shivering throughout the night thinking of the helicopter that was going to have to drag my ice cube of a body off the trail in the morning. That on top of the fact that we were sleeping on a cement platform with no mat. It was probably the worst night of sleep I've ever had. I woke up at 4:30am and just couldn't wait for the sun to rise to get out of there.
Dawn broke after a few more Z's and life seemed okay again, although still very cold. The morning was beautiful and made even better by a big bowl of steaming ramen noodles for breakfast. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a hot meal so much. We waited out the sun on the lakeside trying to get the tent to dry knowing that we had a mere 9 km to walk on that day. It was to our benefit as the views were still stunning and we were able to really enjoy our last full day on the trail.
The third day took us mostly through forest and across the most incredible waterfalls. We walked slowly and too in the views. We stopped for lunch at Earland Falls and had our last can of tuna with our last bit of crackers (another dip down in the weight!). The 174m falls were so gorgeous! It was a fantastic last meal on the trail.
Last night we found ourselves just an hour from the end at Howden Hut. It was on Lake Howden and covered by the surrounding mountains we had just traversed. Brad took a freezing dip in the lake while I laughed from shore while reading my book. We met some wonderful people in the hut and learned some new card games before calling it an early night. The snorers in the bunks were especially bad last night as my earplugs even couldn't tone them out (another 4 day hike necessity...earplugs!). It took a while to fall asleep, but my aching body soon responded to relaxation and I slept a good eight hours before we had to hike out this morning.
So I did it! Four days of hiking with a whole lot of weight on my back. Apparently, I'm not as out of shape as I thought. There were some tough moments, but the things I was able to see and experience made it all worthwhile. I would do it again any day of the week. I am back in Queenstown now and have enjoyed a good meal and a fantastic glass of wine. We've rented a car for the next four days and have a long haul to the glaciers ahead of us. But tonight is Saturday, and we are in town. It's time to relax before getting on the road again. There is just a little more than a week left of New Zealand for me and I intend to make the most of it.
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