Kepler Track Days 2 and 3 – Te Anau
Kepler Track done. Hiked out today just a few hours ago and I’m now showered and clean and dry in the town of Te Anau. Yesterday was a rather uneventful day of hiking – it rained all morning and I just slogged the 16 km through the bush up to the campsite. Not much more to say about it than that. Met some cool folks at the campsite – one American couple from Boston on their honeymoon, a Dutch guy, and a British guy and American girl. The sandflies were ferocious and we all danced around while eating dinner to avoid being swarmed. A much different experience than the 50 people in the Iris Burn Hut, all cosy with their fire going and everyone playing cards and chatting.
This morning I got up and out by 8am, ready to face the long day ahead. I wanted to get above treeline to do the alpine crossing and then go down and all the way out for a total of 30 km or 19 miles. It was a long day but I did it and that included a 3000-foot climb and descent and a traverse across the ridge to the Luxmore Saddle. There was some wind and rain above treeline but nothing too bad. Very reminiscent of the weather in the White Mountains of New Hampshire – one minute sunny and clear, next minute raining and clouded in. When it was clear the views were great. Eventually the sun won and for the last part of the day it was sunny and warm.
I stopped at the Luxmore Hut for lunch – that’s where most of the folks would have stopped for the night but there was no camping allowed there so I just used it for a pitstop and kept going. The last hour was somewhat tiring but other than that I was feeling good all day. I finally got to the end just after 5pm for a total of 9 hours of hiking. A NZ family in the carpark offered to give me a lift into town and I was very grateful for that. I’m going to bed very soon and tomorrow I am taking a rest day – I deserve it after the last 6 days of tramping!
Alpine Crossing on the Kepler Track
Views from the ridge
Views from Luxmore Saddle
Add comment January 5th, 2003