greenstone & routeburn tracks

happy december! i'm going to post this latest update in two sections, for those of you who don't have an hour to devote to reading about our travels :)

mon, nov 30
queenstown to greenstone hut, 7.5 miles

we took a shuttle from queenstown to the start of our track (we're combining two short tracks), which included a bit of an impromptu lord of the rings tour, as we were the only two in the van with a driver who worked on the movies and also runs commercial tours to the filming sites. when asked if they see many hardcore "ringers" on the tour, he relayed a story of a german woman, apparently bordering on viggo mortensen stalker status, who began crying at one of the sites and who came attired in her own "regalia" (his words, indicating at least the standard hobbit cloak and perhaps more).
another addition to the shuttle service today is that it involved a crossing of lake wakatipu by boat, normally not part of the plan but included this time because of a problem with the company's bus. we joined a guided tour group for this portion of the trip, about 10 hikers of various ages who'll hike the same route as us but pay 5-10 times more for the pleasure of staying in lodges with hot showers and meals, thus carrying much smaller packs. apparently, according to our driver, some of them don't realize that you can easily navigate these tracks on your own. hope it's worth it to them.
we only walked for 3.5 hours today, bringing us to the luxurious greenstone hut where the incredible sunset over the mountains lured even the hut warden outside to take photos. the walking was easy, with breathtaking glimpses of the turquoise greenstone river, so we're feeling pretty good about this track so far.

tues, dec 1
greenstone hut to mckellar hut, 9 miles

if we'd known what chaos awaited us at the mckellar hut tonight, we might not have been able to make ourselves move from quiet greenstone hut this morning. but, being ignorant, we trekked down through the boggy valley, which, being surrounded by high mountains on our left and right, gave us the impression that we were being squeezed through a giant intestine. i won't take this illustration any further, but i will say that we are feeling the discomfort of being bottled up with about 20 others in a hut built for 16. being the only ones with a tent, it's expected that we volunteer to sleep outside, no matter the fact that we were among the first to arrive and were already installed on one of the lower bunks. to aggravate this irritation further, a horde of sandflies attacked while we were setting up camp, inviting themselves into the tent where they now lie dead on the floor and remain smashed into the mesh canopy. i know that i don't really have the right to complain about this common hiking experience, but we were really looking forward to sleeping in huts the first two nights, as our next two will be at campsites. bummer.

wed, dec 2
mckellar hut to mackenzie camp, 9 miles

we made a lazy start today, being the last to leave the hut, though in our defense we did have to sweep up after the people who actually got to sleep inside. early on in the day we completed the greenstone track, which meets up with the routeburn (a great walk) at howden hut, where we devoured our peanut butter sandwiches and got the latest track updates from another american couple also using the hut as a lunch spot. apparently there's an avalanche-prone section near the saddle that's caused the DOC to require a guided crossing, so all trampers have to meet at a certain time to be led across in a bunch. this couple's opinion, which we heard echoed many times throughout the day, is that the DOC is being extremely cautious and the guided crossing isn't really necessary. there have also been rumors that the saddle opened back up this afternoon, so i guess we'll see when we get there. either way, we're luckier than last week's hikers, who could only cross that portion of the track by paying $55 each for a 45-second helicopter ride across the affected area. yikes. we left howden hut at about the same time as a frantic german guy with a baguette strapped to his pack who was stopping every hiker from the opposite direction to ask about the saddle before scurrying on up the hill. later, we learned that he had foolishly planned to hike all of the 20-mile track today and hurry back into town for a 10:30 am flight back to europe tomorrow, leaving himself no buffer for a delay like this one.
only 3 hours of our day were spent on the routeburn, but already we like what we see. with so much promotion of the great walks it's rare to be surprised by an exceptional vista; usually we find ourselves thinking "this looks familiar", even if it is worth seeing in person. on this part of the track, however, we felt as if we'd stumbled upon a secret treasure at earland falls, where the track skirts the pool at the base of the powerful waterfall, close enough to soak us pretty thoroughly with the spraying mist. then, upon reaching our campsite, we took the side track marked "split rock --> 25 min return" which took us to a gigantic boulder that's been split in two, the path between the halves just wide enough to walk through but not a place i'd want to be during an earthquake. tomorrow we should rack up twice the mileage on the routeburn - does it follow that we'll find twice as many fascinating spots? hope so!

thu, dec 3
mackenzie camp to glenorchy, 13.5 miles

turns out the guided crossing is still required, so we paused at the harris saddle in a chilly wind for a half hour before being led through the danger zone by a hut warden. we couldn't see any snow on the slopes above us and the only tricky spot was a 10m section through lingering snow, but i still managed a spectacular fall by slipping on a wet rock on the descent, which was witnessed by about a dozen people. fantastic. the massive bruises that i just noticed on my right arm are, i think, a result of this incident...but who can say?
on the track down to the 50-bed (!) routeburn falls hut, we passed a group of 4 hikers sporting a "7 in 7" patch on their matching shirts. i recognized them from an article in nz's wilderness magazine, which explained that they're running 7 of the 9 great walks (skipping stewart island's rakiura track and the great "walk" that's really a river journey) in 7 days to raise money for the leukemia and blood foundation. that's more than 220 miles in a week. think about that for a second. in my typical awkward fashion, instead of acknowledging my interest in their challenge, i stared at the patches on their chests in a way that probably made them feel extremely uncomfortable. at least one of them interpreted my rude gaping as curiosity and passed me a small laminated card about their mission, sheepishly admitting, "we're supposed to be running, but..." and gestured up the steep slope of loose rock ahead of them.
during the last two hours of the track we began passing the group of hikers just arriving off of the transport bus, still smelling pleasantly of deodorant and shampoo and attired in some of the most inappropriate hiking gear i've seen so far: jeans and white sneakers, cotton t-shirts, feminine tops with plunging necklines. every track transport drive in queenstown has a story about some under-equipped, flip-flop wearing idiot that he's dropped off at the routeburn. i'm beginning to wonder if it's just too accessible to the average tourist, though the DOC office admittedly does a good job of stressing wilderness safety.
at the track's end we ran into a fly fisherman who gave us a ride into glenorchy, the nearest town to the start of tomorrow's track, the rees-dart. somehow when i tell people that we're hiking this track, they can't seem to understand me; the fisherman asked "what's the restart?" and then, when i explained, said "oh, the rees-dart" with exactly the same inflection as i thought i had used. glenorchy was the perfect place to spend a night before hitting the trail again; being the first summer-hot day of the year, i bought an ice cream cone, sat cross-legged at the end of the dock, and watched the sun setting over the mountains. this is why we came to new zealand.

-rachel

pictures:

1) the incredible view from greenstone hut. we should be back there again 2 or 3 nights from now - let's hope the weather is just as perfect this time around!

2) looking up the greenstone valley on day 2

3) just past the harris saddle on the routeburn track

4) the blue-green waters of the glacial valleys

5) one of the classic views of the routeburn