Milford Sound Trek

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

There are so many words that come to mind in describing the Milford Sound. A few of those might include: magnificent, spectacular, awesome, and of course, WOW! We spent 6 days in the Fiordlands National Park and could have easily stayed longer. The Fiordlands National Park lies in an area of predominately westerly airstreams that causes high rainfall and very changeable western patterns. A diverse climate including, snow, strong winds and heavy rain can occur at any time of the year. The Southern Alps Mountains vary in height from 3,000 to 6,000 feet.

There are only 2 ways to experience the spectacular Milford Trek, which is quoted as ”The Finest Walk in the World”. You can be an Independent Tramper or choose the Guided Tramping (private beds, showers, dinner and wine included) experience. Either way, it is necessary to book this trek well in advance because of its popularity. We booked this tramping experience last July. Since the price varied greatly on the two choices of hikes ($300 or $3,000 per couple), we chose to be Independent Trampers for the 33.5 mile, 4 day, 3 night, one way Milford Trek.

We arrived at the town of Te Anau, 2 days prior to our hike, to pick up the rented gear we needed, purchase our gourmet dehydrated meals, unpack and repack our backpacks and have a real dinner and decent night’s rest. The tramp would include 3 nights of roughing it in huts with 38 of our newest best tramping friends. Our 4 day adventure began with a bus ride to Te Anau Downs and from there a boat cruise to the Glade House dock where we were dropped off for the start of the trek. The weather report for our first day called for heavy rains and winds followed by 3 days of clearing. All the information written about Milford Trek referred to the area as being the wettest region in the world and to expect at least two days of rain. We were told that the rainfall would make the hike even more beautiful (yeah, right)! We weren’t sold on this idea since Milford Sound’s average rainfall was 21 ft. per year. But, it would be what it would be! We were also told to prepare for possible snow on the pass since it recently snowed on Christmas Day (2 weeks prior)!

The first day of the tramp we awoke to rain but as the day progressed, it tapered off and then stopped. As it turned out, we had sunny days the entire 4 days! WOW. The first day we hiked only 3 miles and arrived at the camp early. We got our first view of our “Four Seasons” accommodations. The independent trampers hut had 40 individual bunks divided into 2 rooms. How cozy! By nightfall, we discovered the individual snoring and snorting sounds of our bunkmates even before we learned their names! Ear plugs helped but a liter of wine along with our backpacker food was the ticket.

Each hut is staffed with a ranger who monitors the weather and the conditions along the track. He informed us that, regarding the weather, we were good to go. On day two we started out early, but had no choice, since the first group stared their preparations at 5:30 am. It was an interesting sight to see our international group of bunkmates in the group kitchen cooking their meals and boiling water for coffee and tea all with their “headlamps” on in the darkness!

We had 9 plus miles to cover that day with a full pack minus a liter of wine and one dehydrated meal. This part of the track passed through many avalanche and rock slide areas which can easily cause delays or make the track impassable at any time. Just the prior week, a group of tampers had to wait out another night at this campsite due to heavy flooding a few miles further along. As we progressed, we enjoyed seeing the semi topical vegetation changing reflecting the higher altitude and rainfall. We got our first glimpse of Mackinnon Pass which is the gateway to Milford Sound and which we would be climbing the following day.

By the second evening we became more comfortable with our bunkmates who included families and individuals from Korea, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. The Yanks were represented by the two of us. We enjoyed a lively conversation over dinner sharing of wine and chocolate bars with many of our new tramping friends. By the third night we were exchanging email addresses with the hopes of staying in touch. There was even a contingent of 5 young kids ranging in ages from 9-19 that helped keep the group young in spirit and set an energy example for the slower adults.

Our legs were “begging to go” on the third day and we woke up to a heavy fog. This would be our most difficult day since we had to cover 9 miles and over 5,000 feet of elevation change over hard granite trail rocks. We arrived at the top of the pass (3,500 ft.) in awe of the 360 degree view. It was spectacular! As we just stood there admiring the view, the fog unveiled itself and massive glaciers and endless waterfalls came into view. It was blue sky and only a slight breeze. We have never seen anything that comes close to this! On the decent, the trail continued to awe us with the beautiful wildflowers, endless waterfalls and the numerous swing bridges crossing creeks and rivers that we always had to stops and look at.

By the fourth and final day our legs were talking to us (and it wasn’t nice!) but we didn’t listen. We had another 11.5 miles to cover to arrive at Sand fly Point (well named due to the many bites on our legs) in time to catch the 2:00 pm boat. The Koreans were up and out by 6:00 am but we had to sit around the table with our instant coffee for ½ hour longer to convince our bodies to get moving. The landscape changed back to the rainforest and the track was mostly flat so we were able to cover the distance in 6 hours. A shower, cold beer and roast lamb dinner were within our sight. The bus ride back to Te Anau along the famous Milford road offered more amazing views of the Fiordlands. What an adventure!

We are now headed back to Christchurch stopping at a small town of Dunedin along the Southeast coast to unpack and repack (and more rest!). In two days, we head to the airport to fly to Sydney! More adventures await!

Where’s Pat and Mike?