Getting high!

This has been a weird year, to say the least. Like so many others, I had international travel plans that had to be cancelled or rescheduled to who knows when. As a result, I’ve been taking to the mountains more than usual – who would have thought such a thing was even possible since I spent most of my weekends there last year as well! But this year has involved doing a lot more multi-day treks, both for the joy of it and condition myself for next September’s 9-day trek to circumnavigate Peru’s Ausangate and Rainbow Mountains. Which is going to be awesome.

So, without further ado, here’s a few shots from the recent forays. Enjoy!

 

Buckhorn Pass & Buckhorn Mountain:

 Nannie Ridge and Sheep Lake to Cispus Pass on the PCT:

As always, if you want more information of these trails, feel free to email me!

Mueller Hut - there and back again

Hiking is one of my favorite pastimes and in this time of isolation from the pandemic outbreak, I've been taking a trip down memory lane and found some of my favorites. New Zealand has come up a lot, as has Argentinian Patagonia. I have written extensive posts of our trips to both countries but thought someone out there might like some more information, the nitty gritty, on how, how much, when and all that. So here we go.

Mueller Hut lies at 1800 meters above sea level in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park on the South Island of New Zealand.  It is an out and back via the same route but that's really not a deterrent as the view are so spectacular you will probably not mind seeing them twice. 

Reservations for staying over - a lot of people just do it as a day trip - are made through the Department of Conservation's website (https://www.doc.govt.nz). Once you get to the Mount Cook Visitors Centre in Hooker Valley you simply show them the printout and you get the ticket which you present to the hut ranger. Easy. It's about $45 NZ for a bunk bed and use of the kitchen, which has gas but no cooking gear or lighters. We opted for the bunks but there is enough flat ground and fairly sheltered areas to put up a tent. If you dare. There are LOTS of keas.

The seams lasted a couple of hours...

The trail starts at Kea Point Track outside the visitors' center but can also be reached from the White Horse Hill car park. We stayed overnight at the Mount Cook Backpacker Lodge so we could get started early and were fortunate to have absolutely gorgeous weather. They only had dorms but there was a large kitchen with lots of cookware and a big dining hall overlooking the valley.

Trail conditions going towards Sealy Tarns

We were off at the crack of dawn, meeting several small groups of hikers along the way. This trail is pretty much up hill, all the way from the valley floor, sometimes along gravel trail, sometimes on wooden stairs. Being NZ, it's extremely well maintained. After many zigzags (I never count) and a couple of hours, the first "stop" is Sealy Tarns. From here there are spectacular views of Mount Aoraki/Cook and the Hooker Valley and it's a good place to have a snack and take lots of photos, even if the clouds are low hanging.

Sealy Tarns

From the tarns, the trail gets a bit more rugged and becomes more of an alpine route than a trail. We followed the orange markers through the tussocks which eventually turned into a rock scramble. It's fairly easy to figure out which way to go - up - but the boulders are large and probably not well suited for someone with weak ankles. Some people used hiking poles to provide some extra support. I went with the "hands and knees" option as I rarely use poles - for me, they get in the way of photographing - but everyone differs on this. Use whatever makes you feel safer and, if you're new to scrambling and walking on scree, remember you have a heavy backpack on that impairs your balance.

The trail gradually becomes not so much a trail

Follow the orange markers!

After about 50 meters of this, we came to the skyline ridge and amazing views of the
Mueller Glacier that swept down the valley, passing several smaller hanging glaciers along the way. You also have views of the very cool ice shelf on Mount Sefton. We were lucky with the weather and there were very few clouds.

As you round the corner, you get the first sighting of Mueller Hut and it's a stunner. And that's when it hits you - this is where we spend the night and it's going to be SO cool. I could almost feel my camera jumping for joy. The hut has a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains and there is literally nothing preventing you from getting gorgeous pictures. As long as the weather held and it did.

A long awaited sight

Following the rocky trail those last few meters were a breeze but then odd sounds started to come into ear shot. It sounded almost like crying babies, and yet... The cry of the kea is very distinct and hard to describe.It almost makes you think of video game sound, so otherworldly and unlike anything else. And they were having fun, which explained why everything on the hut was bolted down like they expected a raid by marauding Vikings. Everything was being picked at, nibbled on, tried on for size.

Keas trying to find purchase on the metal roof

 

Attitude...

The setup was the same as with many of New Zealand's huts - a thick mattress in a couple of big mixed dorms, BYO pillow, sleeping back and ear plugs - though this one had a particularly cool long-drop...

The Mueller long drop - not a bad view

The dorm - aiming for comfort, not privacy

This particular hut sleeps only 28 so it's one of the smaller ones but there was a nice, big common room and kitchen.  None of the bunks are assigned numbers so we grabbed a couple that faced windows after checking in on the roster. There were closets opposite to store our stuff. Since I do get up to photograph sunrise, we took bottom bunks. Then it was off to eat lunch outside in the sunshine and watch the keas frolic on the roof. The area around the hut is filled with cool alpine plants and it was fun to wander around and take pictures.

The wind picked up at bit...

After a hearty re-hydrated noodle dinner, the stable of backpackers the world over, the sun started to set and people went outside to watch the light disappear. The wind had picked up and it was pretty cold as there was absolutely nothing to hold onto the warmth from the day - a windbreaker came in very handy. It was gorgeous and I stayed out until I could no longer feels my hands or hit the shutter button, then fled inside to warm up on tea and whiskey. As with the other huts we stayed in, there was a nice atmosphere. Everyone had endured the same rigors coming to the top and the sense of exhausted accomplishment was as undeniable as it was satisfying. It was a good, fun group of people, including a bunch of Aussies who had actually dragged several bottles of wine to the top. Admittedly, I felt a little envious.

Hooray moment

Sunset over Mt. Aoraki/Cook

A word of advice about dorms - there was a large group who got up at 4 a.m. to hike back and who were shining their very bright headlights on all us sleepers as they fumbled around in the dark to get their gear together. Don't be that person. Get your stuff ready before you go to bed so you can just grab everything when you get up and gear up outside the dorm away from the sleepers. It seems self-explanatory but a surprising number of people don't. Common courtesy is priceless when you sleep with a bunch of strangers. Personally, I sleep with my camera bag just above my head and a stuff sack with my clothes so it's easy to slip out of bed using the weak light from my phone to navigate in the dark and keeping the headlight where it belongs - in a pocket :). That being said, it was totally worth getting up early for the sunrise!

Sunrise from the hut

Quite a few people were up early to watch the sunrise. Once it was done and the sun was up, we headed inside to make big bowls of hot oatmeal and instant coffee. We chatted with the Aussies who were surprisingly frisky despite having downed several bottles of wine the previous night, then cleaned up, got our gear together and headed out since we had not packed a lunch. We took our time getting back down - it's always easier on the knees going up than down - and we were back at the hostel in the early afternoon where a good lunch, and a hot shower, awaited.

Post-hike lamb pie, entirely guilt-free

As always, feel free to email me at anneharaiphotography@gmail.com with questions if you plan to go the same route!

Hiking New Zealand's Gorgeous Routeburn Track

Or, as the Kiwis say, tramping. 

In 2018, Lonely Planet nominated the Routeburn Track one of the world’s most epic hikes. I heartily agree. The year before, in the fall of 2017, my husband and I completed the track and I want to do it again. It's one of New Zealand's Great Walks and straddles the national parks of Aspiring and Fiordland with some 39 kilometers of stunning mountain landscape. There is neither the breath-squelching elevations of the Andes nor the humid heat of Indonesia’s mountains to contend with, and most definitely not the hordes that the Camino de Santiago struggles with. It is unadulterated nature, raw and wild. I have been to a lot of places around the world but the Routeburn is one of the most beautiful trails I’ve ever seen. And it’s really not all that difficult if you're in reasonably good shape.

So, down to the nitty-gritty. Several months before starting I made reservations on the Department of Conservation (DOC) website. There are 4 self-catering huts along the way - Routeburn Flats, Routeburn Falls, Lake McKensie and Lake Howden - with room to camp if you decide to bring a tent instead and save some money. If you do camp you’re allowed to use the spacious kitchen facilities at the huts. The kitchens have fuel, stoves and water available at no extra charge, but you will need to bring all your cooking gear, including a lighter, and food. We paid about $50 per night per person at each hut and stayed at all four. It can be done in two overnights but if you are not in a hurry, it is most definitely worth taking the extra days. I recommend making the reservations as soon as you know when you can go since the huts only have room for about 40-60 people a night. They are very basic bunks with mattresses included. You will need to bring a sleeping bag and pillow – and probably some ear plugs or headphones. A lot of snoring going on with that many folks in one room.

Last time being clean for 5 days!

Once you get to Queenstown you'll have to visit the DOC's office with your reservation papers to get the official tickets. We got four so we could give one to the ranger at each hut. The track starts outside of Queenstown at Routeburn Shelter where an easy shuttle ride can deposit you at the trail head. We had rented a car since we were driving all around the South Island and instead made arrangements with a car relocation company (Tracknet.net) to pick it up at the Shelter and drop it off at the Divide where the track ends. It was an option that saved us from having to take the shuttle bus all the way from Te Anau at the Divide and back to Routeburn Shelter. It was a bit more expensive than the shuttle but not by much and it saved valuable vacation time that would have otherwise been spent backtracking.

Close encounter with a tomtit

Routeburn Flats hut

Giant southern beech in forest near the Flats, also known as Fangorn

The walk from the Shelter to the first hut, Routeburn Flats, is about 6.5 km and takes only a couple of hours. It is ripe with vistas of New Zealand’s iconic beech forests and cascading streams, all of which are bridged. Look out for birds, if you love wildlife, as there are lots of tomtits, tui and fantails. Once we reached the hut, situated in the outskirts of the flats and overlooking the snowy peak of Mount Somnus, we spotted some paradise ducks. As dusk approached a gang of keas descended to pick apart any hiking shoes left outside the hut – nature’s very own entertainment. These mountain parrots, indigenous to New Zealand and found nowhere else, are some of the smartest birds in the world and are not deterred by such paltry things like rubber seals. They spent most of our dinnertime noisily picking at the ones fitted around the hut’s skylight. Apparently, they had had to be replaced several times. It was great to sit and watch them with a really nice couple from Auckland that we had met along the trail.

The naughty nighttime keas

Day two‘s walk is only about 1.5 hours, ascending about 275 meters to Routeburn Falls. The trees are still present but grow gnarly and significantly lower. Right behind the hut are the Falls which, since it had recently rained, were pure torrents. A bit further up is a more luxurious hut owned by a company that caters to your every whim and priced accordingly. The Routeburn Falls hut overlooks the whole valley. 

The next morning it rained torrents and resulted in a crazy amount of impromptu waterfalls cascading down all the valley walls as we sat outside on the veranda, wondering if we would be hiking in the rain and listening for each booming crack of thunder that made the mountains tremble. 

 

Ranger gives a lecture in Routeburn Falls hut while we waited for the rain to subside

The wind swept the rain up the mountainside!

The resident ranger, infallibly confident, assured us it was quite normal and would stop by the time we had to leave and make room for the next set of incoming hikers. He was right. Like clockwork, at precisely 9:15 am, it stopped, the sun burst through the thick clouds and the world seemed greener than ever. The falls had doubled in size in a matter of hours. So on we went, past the cascades and into the alpine tussock grasslands beyond. Trees were replaced with phormiums and an abundance of high-altitude wildflowers as the land rose another 300 meters and the track meandered over boggy meadow to the highest point on the track.

After the rain and waiting to head out

Routeburn Falls - after a night of rain

Track leading away from the Falls hut

Harris Saddle sits at a comfortable 1225 meters above beautiful Harris Lake and is reached after overnighting at the Routeburn Falls hut. Saddle has an emergency shelter so you are not allowed to overnight and there are no bunks, but it is a great place to take a break and enjoy a well-deserved lunch. It does have a long-drop toilet. It also overlooks the other side of the track and the Serpentine Range.

Approaching Harris Saddle shelter

At the shelter - and a mighty fine view of the Serpentines

After Harris, the track continues along the Hollyford face around to Ocean Peak corner and from there on the trail gets a little rougher, with some gentle scrambling required as it descends steeply in zigzags into the valley towards Lake Mackenzie. 

 

At the lake is the third hut, not surprisingly named Lake Mackenzie Hut. Take a load of  - when we got there, the ranger gave an excellent lecture on the fragility of the valley’s ecosystem and the destructive menace, the stoat (imported from England) that has had a devastating effect on New Zealand’s many ground-nesting birds. He told us to pay close attention to the difference between the amount of birds on the stretch of track we had already covered and what we would be seeing on the stretch tomorrow. He was not wrong – the density of wildlife was seriously increased and really highlighted the conservation efforts in the valley. It was as though someone had suddenly turned up the volume! We even saw some parrots and keas.

The tiny building to the far right - Mackenzie Hut

Mackenzie hut

The next day we again started off soon after breakfast, our packs a bit lighter as we only had one more night ahead. I have to admit I wished the track was a lot longer at this point. We had so much fun with the people we kept bunking with at the huts and doing the occasional stretch of walking with. During this stretch we climbed a bit, then entered a grassy area abundant with ribbonwood trees and past Earland Falls. The falls were spectacular, some 174 meters tall. The trail is pretty close to the water and getting sprayed was not optional. Did I mention that apart from that one night of rain, the weather was perfect?

Earland Falls

The tracks gradually descended to the fourth hut, which sits on the shores of Lake Howden. As the afternoon wore on, people were jumping in the lake though I chose to meander around shooting birds. The vegetation had changed from high alpine to more grass and low shrub terrain, equally beautiful. On the last night we heard another short talk by the on-site ranger on the biodiversity of the Southern Alps as clothes hung drying around the fireplace and we sat sipping the last of our hot chocolate and whiskey. There was a really nice sense of camaraderie, everyone enjoying the trip and each other’s company. We met a frisky pair of Aussie ladies in their early 70s who told us they had walked the Australian Outback last year which had taken something like 4 weeks and several air drops of food and beer. Just goes to show age is no hindrance – I want to be just like them when I grow up!

Lake Howden Hut

Sunset at Lake Howden

The next morning, after a good night’s sleep with ear plugs, we had our last breakfast and did the usual exchange of emails with our new friends from Auckland with promises that if we ever found ourselves on the North Island, we’d be stopping by for sure. I hope we do. The hike out to the Divide highway was about 12 km and was pretty forested most of the way as we descended a bit out of the valleys. As we got closer to the trailhead, we started encountering day trippers and boy, did they smell good! Perfume, deodorant… things we had been, eh, lacking in for the past four days, not to mention most of them were freshly showered…

At last the trail spilled into a small graveled parking lot where, lo and behold, the nice folks at Tracknet had deposited our car. It was like magic! I grabbed the long-awaited bottle of local red out of the trunk and we toasted our success, cups unnecessary! Moments later our Auckland friends emerged from the woods and we hugged and took pics. They were headed back home whereas our adventure would continue south to Te Anau and, hopefully, a really, really long shower.

Mission accomplished!

The Routeburn was a mindblowingly beautiful experience and I would go back and do it all over again, any day. Really. Any day. Because the problem with New Zealand is that the moment you leave, you probably can’t wait to get back.  It’s just that nice.

Stinky but happy - and ready to go again