Routeburn Track Great Walk – 3 Days 45kms , South Island New Zealand
Routeburn Track Great Walk
Climb up and through mountain passes, high tarns and alpine gardens. Be rewarded with spectacular vistas over mountain ranges and valleys, such as the Humbolt Mountains and Lake Mackenzie. Hollyford valley and the Darren Mountains out to the west. And Harris Saddle / Harris Lake , Routeburn Falls and Routeburn Flats out to the east. Presents you with a walk into middle earth.
After our well earned rest in Te Anau for 2 nights at a wonderful holiday home. This really cool Fully Self Contained House, that had three seperate cabins detached from the main house.
Routeburn Track Great Walk– 38kms , Including Side Trips
Key Summit – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Day 1 – The Divide to Lake Mackenzie ascent gain 1100m , 12kms plus side trip to Key Summit.
It was an early departure 07:00 departure from Te Anau with Tracknet. 08:30 arrived at the DIVIDE , where we were to start our 3 days trek of the Routeburn – It was Chilly and very fresh.
Not before too long we were on a A steep 400-meter climb over 1.7 km to the Key Summit turnoff, a side trip (Not to be missed). Absolutely stunning views.
A food break at lake Howden and a 4 hours trek through to Lake Mackenzie.
We continued to the impressive 174m high Earland Falls. WOW – Lunch break here. This waterfall displayed its beauty as there was some amazing flora such as. beech forest, vibrant alpine herb fields. species include mountain daisy, tree fuchsia, and various ferns.
There was a section that was a rough single track as the doc’s (Department of Conservation) were cutting in a new track, as the current section has subsided.
The final walk before the valley opened up was a very rocky one. Finally we came out into the valley and there it was lake Mackenzie , Wow. We still had to walk another 10 minutes to our camp site from the Hut.
Lake Mackenzie –
We had an amazing view all to our selves of the glacial carved out mountain and lake.
A swim was on the agenda – fresh but invigorating indeed , Richard sort the idea of staying in for almost 40 minutes…. He did have the “shivers” for a long while after.
A short walk to Split Rock, that continued along the lake on there right side and below the Humbolt mountains.
Dinner that evening was out at the lake with clear skies. Just pure nature and innocence to our selves.
Key Summit – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Earland Falls – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Earland Falls – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Lake Mackenzie – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Lake Mackenzie – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Routeburn Track Great Walk
Day 2 – Lake Mackenzie to Routeburn Flats Campsite – 600m gained / 600m loss, 12kms Plus side trip to Conical Hill.
Andrew reminded us that day 2 was to be better than day 1 … He was not wrong, It was off the charts.
As we left Lake Mackenzie and after the initial climb , we switchback out onto a well contoured track. Turned the corner and had views looking into the Hollyford Valley and beyond, Absolutely Majestic… West from here and over the Darran Mountains would be Milford Sound. This was us for the next couple of hours , until we made it to Harris Saddle.
Conical Hill / Harris Saddle
With a quick break there , Richard and I decided to do the side trip of Conical Hill. While the rest of the group continued on towards camp. The views on top of Conical Hill were “out of this world” And able to eye ball certain landmarks from the map.
I made a loud bellow of joy and our group below heard.
Walking around Harris lake and descending from this point to Routeburn Falls was amazing , it makes you really appreciate the environment you are in. Because I had been to Routeburn Falls before, we had a brief break and continued out 300m descent down to
Routeburn Flats camp site. And set up camp near the river thats being fed from the glacial areas around Harris saddle.
Lake Mackenzie Hut – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Lake Mackenzie – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Harris Saddle – Routeburn Track Great Walk
Conical Hill – Harris Saddle Routeburn Track Great Walk
The Purpose of living “Pure La Vida”
Day 3 – Routeburn Flats to Routeburn Shelter – gradual descent, 10kms 3hours side trip to Forge Flat
A late departure of 10:30 as it was an easy walk with a gradual descent to Routeburn Shelter and the end.
A good 40minute stop at Forge flat , no-one in our group this time braved the cold water.
Whats a incredable walk that went SO QUICK.
A 14:00hr pick up from Tracknet back to Queenstown.
Routeburn Track Great Walk
Harris Saddle looking East Routeburn Track Great Walk
NORMAN HERFURTH
INDIGO PHOTOGRAPHY
YOURS IN ADVENTURE
“This Blog is of the Opinion of my own Personal Experiences and are not necessarily Fact.. and is written to the best of my knowledge, but there may be omissions, errors or mistakes. This blog is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only and shouldn’t be seen as any kind of advice.”
