33.5 Miles

The Milford Track is all behind us now.  It was the kind of experience that just fills all of your senses to the point of overload and is impossible to describe afterwards to people not there.  In fact, we are still processing the experience, but we'll do our best.  

Our first day we hiked a mere 3 miles through Beech Tree Forest along the Clinton River to Clinton Hut.   It was a breathtaking hike with beauty surrounding you.  Everywhere you looked - gorgeous.  

Now when we say hut, you're probably imagining a little lean-to covered with palm leaves.  Not at all.  These "huts" are nicer than some of the places we've lived.  Three large, dry, and clean buildings with running water, flushing toilets, and propane.  A backpackers paradise, really.  Well done,  New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC).  

Clinton Hut was run by Ranger Ross, a wiry, 55ish, story-telling man.   He took us and our new 38 closest friends on a nature walk & eagerly showed us around his forest, pointing out trees, making Doug try some fresh pepper (straight off the tree), & pointing us in the direction of the glowworms, the evening's entertainment.   That night, he gave us our first "hut talk" & went over the next day's route, making sure to highlight all the places we might see the elusive blue duck, an endangered bird found only in New Zealand's Fiordland.   He also brought in his "pets"- a dead stout & a baby stout caught in their traps.   The goal:   Eliminate the stout (a rat-like creature that runs rampant & enjoys killing just to kill) to save the blue ducks.  

At Clinton Hut, we also had our first glimpse of the others trekking with us.   The DOC carefully regulates how many people go on the Milford Track each day, granting only 40 permits per day.   Of the 40 of us on the trek, we figured out that their were 10 nations represented including England, New Zealand, China, Malaysia, Australia, & the Chezh Republic just to give you a taste.  English was the common language (in varying degrees, though strangely we've discovered we don't always understand what the Kiwis are saying.   For example:   Ranger Ross kept talking about the white alpine flares.  Only after he finished talking did we finally figure out he was talking about the alpine flowers.)   This was a part of this trek we thoroughly enjoyed:  Hiking independently during the day but then connecting with people afterwards.  

Day two of the trek was our Blue Duck day.   We hiked nearly 11 miles from Clinton Hut through a valley, along a stream, through several avalanche paths (the trek crosses 56 of them), up the first part of the pass, to Mintaro Hut.   We stopped several times through the day @ all the places where Ranger Ross had told us Blue Ducks might be lurking.   Thanks to his brilliant demonstration of what they sounded like, we were able to spot two pairs, one of which touched down in the stream right in front of us.   Later that day, we also saw some wekas, another somewhat rare New Zealand Bird.  

Day three we hiked the 9 longest miles of our life from Mintaro Hut, over the pass, to Dumpling Hut.    It rained a bit in the morning, but the weather cleared, giving us a brilliantly gorgeous day.   The 1st part of this trek was a 500 m ascent, back & forth several steep switchbacks.   Every step we took was excruciating & yet the views were incredible.    When we finally we reached the top of the pass, we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the Clinton Valley, which we hiked through the day before.   We also took a much needed lunch break during which we had to defend our packs from the Kias.   This giant parrot is incredibly ballsy, approaching people & their packs, trying to wreak havoc.   It was quite funny hearing the ranger's "kia" stories - recounting how they steal people's boots, trekking poles, & really anything they could get their claws on.  

Once we arrived at the top of the Pass, we assumed that the hard part of the day was over.  Little did we know - the descent was far more excruciating than the climb.   Down 900 m of back breaking, knee jerking, ankle twisting trails, though I use that term loosely.    Making things worse, we had to take the emergency trek rather than the normal trek due to the avalanche danger (which we both saw & heard during the trip).    This trek was far steeper than the normal route, but again, it yielded amazing views.  As we neared the bottom, we also walked along a constant cascade of waterfalls.  Just beautiful!  

Day 4 we hiked the remaining 11.5 miles from Dumpling Hut to Sandfly Point where the boat picked us up.    Thankfully, this trek was quite level (much needed after the day before.)    We hiked along streams, by waterfalls, over several suspension bridges, & through gorgeous rainforest.   And we hiked in the rain - which though it may not sound fun, enabled us to see the rainforest in all its glory.   The New Zealand rainforest is indeed a glorious, mystical place.  

After arriving at Sandfly Point, we took a short ferry back to the Milford Sound Ferry Terminal where we boarded a Milford Sound Cruise.   Though rainy & wet, we were really glad we got to see the Sound.   Waterfalls abounded EVERYWHERE.  We've never seen anything quite like it...  

In just a few minutes we're leaving for Doubtful Sound, which some argue is even more spectacular than Milford Sound.  We shall see!

Until then!