With tent and sleeping bag in hand, I packed my bags full of tuna fish, pita bread, and chocolate, my diet for the next few days out on the trail. The Routeburn Track is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, multi-day trails serviced with both sleeping huts and campsites, allowing access to even more of this beautiful country, where the famous roads can’t quite take an adventurer.
I started the track in the middle of a nice rainstorm, which thankfully didn’t pose as much of a discomfort as expected due to the 1st hour and a half of walking through thick beech forest. Expecting more alpine trees, I felt as though I was in some sort of rainforest, with ferns lining the trail, mountain parrots barking at me in the distance, and deep shades of green on top, below, and around the trees. The rain slowed just long enough for me to set up my tent in some flatlands below a jagged peak that seemed to rise from the nothingness surrounding it like a piece of Toblerone on a Christmas cookie. The rain continued through the afternoon, though when the low-hanging clouds would clear, I’d catch a glimpse of the source of the constant thundering in the distance. In the Fiordland area, with rain comes waterfalls, and a lot of them. Gushing down the sides of the mountain, as if a faucet is turned on and off with each passing cloud.
Day 2 provided clearing skies in the morning, as I made my way up and over the pass to Harris Saddle. Climbing around then over a beautiful Alpine lake encircled in peaks, looking down on my campsite from the night before, I felt as though a new part of my adventure had begun. Rather than viewing New Zealand from the side of the road, I was deep into the heart of the backcountry. The lure of meeting people from around the world, the joys of sharing travel experiences, all this disappeared. The mountains were my companions, the trail my lone source of wanderlust. Upon crossing the saddle, the weather turned, not nasty, but downright cruel. There wasn’t much rain to speak of, but the fog blanketed the mountainside, and with it, the valley below and ranges in the distance. For 2.5 hours, I saw nothing but the trail a couple dozen meters in front of me and the sharp cliffs to my right. There was an air of mystery to the whole experience, as I’d distanced myself from the other hikers. If I were to fall, I doubted there’d be anyone to hear, let along see me as I tumbled down. The rain came, and, for the first time on this trip, I admittedly became discouraged. I don’t mind the rain, but when it’s served with blinding fog, one begins to question the timing of the whole operation.
Should I have maybe checked the weather?
What all was I missing out on?
Thankfully, just after reaching my low point mentally in the demanding 16-mile day, the sun began to come out. Blue skies were never more beautiful as I trekked past 500ft tall waterfalls and peaceful lakes that I could actually see across. The long and wearing day made for a good night’s sleep, and I awoke to more beautiful weather as I finished the track with a backdrop of snow covered peaks.
As I reflect on the trek, I could have used some more cooperative weather, but an afternoon of fog and rain couldn’t remotely offset the exhilaration of crossing over and under the jagged peaks, dense forests, and thundering waterfalls that aptly characterize the Routeburn Track.
A Great Walk indeed.