Bonfire on Lake Manapouri-Day 3
(photo credits for all: zoe)
Some of the girls on Day 3
Luxmore Hut, my favorite hut-Day 1
Day 2, when the rain had stopped enough for me to take my hood down
From Luxmore Hut-Day 1
April 12th-15th: The Kepler Track
In New Zealand, there is a set of 10 hikes called the Great Walks, which are usually around 3-4 days and have well-maintained huts along the path. The best of these was supposed to be the Milford Track, but there is a limited number of spots and we booked too late, so we went for what some guy in Devonport told me was the next best thing: The Kepler Track. Its also in Fiordland National Park and makes a neat little loop which begins and ends near Te Anau.
I had of course been stressing about this hike for weeks, both before and after I was knocked off my feet entirely by strep throat the weeks before break. I've never been the most athletically inclined and have certainly never climbed anything with 30ish lbs on my back.
Well, I woke up sort of sick on the morning of, probably from nervousness and the crazy travel schedule the days before. For the first 2 hours-ish I was fine, although apparently I looked like death. Once we began the climb in earnest, I got so out of breath I started hyperventilating and crying b/c this was exactly what I was afraid of and didn't want to hold my friends back so I was ready to turn around. My friend Paul, ever the gracious British gentleman, took my pack from me at that point and carried it along with his up the 2500ftish climb at my snails pace. I was of course extremely grateful but I HATE being that girl who needs help from her guy friends on the trail, ya know? Anyways, made it up above the treeline and to the Luxmore hut on the ridge. Again, words fail me at describing the views from up there that day. Once up there we dumped out packs and wandered into the caves near the summit; I'm not a big fan of unguided caving or small, tight, dark spaces in general, so I just took a peek, but others were fullout spelunkers down there.
Had our first deeelicious meal of pasta and lentils and played cards the rest of the night...and slept, hardcore.
The next day we woke to completely cloudy skies, with the forecast of a rather rainy and windy day, which was kinda lame b/c the second day was the ridge walk. It was brutal, being completely exposed up there to the elements, but thats really what made that day my favorite, even though it ended with my ankle being in major pain from a defect in one of my boots that had finally worn through on the descent off the ridge. My friend Zoe was really my rock that day, as she kept feeding me encouragement, even singing "You'll never walk alone" over the wind and rain on the ridge haha. I forgot how much I love alpine environments, with the hardy plant life and lichens and exposed bedrock :-) The hut we stayed in that night was where we were supposed to here the kiwis, but they didn't vocalize that night for whatever reason. Again, slept like a rock. Also, with the exception of literally the last 15 minutes, I carried my own pack all day and from every day afterwards, so my morale was very much improved.
The third day was definitely the easiest. At this point, I felt rather lied to about it being all downhill from the first day, but it finally came to be true. Didn't mean that that that last hour so didn't make me wanna cry and throw my boots off every five minutes or so. The forest we walked through was soooo cool though, it was a temperate rainforest, with thick moss and bright purple, yellow, orange and red mushrooms, fun little birds who followed us on the trail to eat the bugs we kicked up. We were in the land of the sandfly now, though, so stops were often a short battle of sorts. I liked the actual walking this day the best, probably because it was just us girls, so I felt less pressured to go fast and didn't have their "bant" going on and on and on. Made it to the last hut in time to have a little bonfire on the shore of Lake Manapouri, where a little boy befriended us and gave us all his marshmallows; his dad also joined us and told us about the run they have on the track...the record for the run is 6 hours...6 HOURS, for a trail I barely made in 4 days...ugh.
The only scary animal threat was presented at this hut: we were told to shut the toilet (yes flush toilets with tampon disposal...pretty posh for hiking, right?) doors b/c apparently possums love the hang out in the toilets (it had happened to one woman before)...seriously my worst nightmare, as I used to be terrified of outdoor toilets b/c I was convinced raccoons lived in them and would bite my butt.
The night passed w/o any possum encounters though, luckily.
The last day there were two options presented as to how to end the hike: exit in 1.5 hours at Rainbow Bridge or go the full 5 hours and end exactly where we started. My friend Elyse and I opted for the first b/c of her bad knee and my utter exhaustion/boot-failure, and because we could definitely catch a shuttle there to the hostel. After seeing others' pics of the part we missed, it was definitely the right decision, it was just more forest. Got back to the hostel and had hours and hours to kill before the boys would be back to drive with us into town. Nothing too interesting, except maybe the amount and quality of food I consumed:
3 bowls of porridge
A 500g block of tasty cheese I had forgotten to pack for the trek
3 brunch bars
A wonderfully tender and tasty filet of beef, with topped with bacon (NZ bacon is more like ham) served with mushroom gravy over a heap of mashed potatoes
A slice of chocolate mudcake
...On the trail all we had was apples, granola bars of all types, pasta or rice with lentils/barley, and other little snacks...I NEEDED SOME MEAT DAMNIT and I got some and it was glorious.
That night, we girls bought some bottles of rose and mudmasks to celebrate our return to showerdom. This was also glorious.
Passed out at a record-late bedtime of 12:30am, and I got up and caught a bus at 7:15 am to the ferry for Stewart Island...
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