Milford Track Day 1 & 2

The slogan for Milford Track is “the finest walk in the world”, which is no doubt high praise. The hike is all within Fiordland National Park in the southwest portion of the South Island. The full hike is 53.5 km (33.5 miles) over 4 days and ascends from sea level to 1,154 meters at the top of McKinnon Pass and then back down to sea level. After getting the bungy jumping out of our system, we hit the grocery store to fill up our packs with food and prepare for our journey.

 Just to get to the start of the track is a journey. We started early in the morning in Queenstown and took a bus ride to Te Anau, then jumped on another bus to catch a boat which dropped us off at the start of the track, deep into Fiordland. There isn’t much at the start, simply a dock for the boat to stop at and a sign signifying that this truly was the beginning of the Milford Track.



From the boat heading towards start of track



Drop off point, there is no going back from here

The first day’s walk is short, only taking around an hour and a half to reach the hut on the first night. There were two separate huts in different locations with undoubtedly different accommodations. We passed the glade hut which is where the guided walkers stayed. It reeked of luxury compared to the simple accommodations of the commoners hut that didn’t have guides. They had real beds, cooked meals, and hot showers. We had sleeping bags, ramen noodles and no showers. Plus the guided hikers were easy to pick out with their tiny backpacks and dorky name tags.



Dana in front of our first hut



The hiking portion of the first day is flat and for the most part we walked beside a river. As everyone is enthusiastic for the trip, we kept up a good tempo and made it to the hut a little quicker than anticipated. Once you’ve settled at the hut there really isn’t much to do. Your options are to cook and eat, or play cards. We played cards, cooked, ate, and then played some more cards.

There are rangers at each of the huts, and the ranger at the first one had an interactive night time tour showing us glowworms living underneath a rock. He also took us to the helicopter pad for a great view of the night sky. He pointed out the Southern Cross and other constellations, throwing around amazing stats about how far away certain stars and galaxies are. Don’t know if it was the wilderness setting or what, but I have never seen the night sky so clear.  

Day number two was a 16.5 km hike that started out flat and then started to climb elevation in the last few kilometres. The morning was a little cloudy, but the clouds moved out fairly quickly. The scenery was similar to what I saw in the Milford Sound with my parents, but instead of being in a boat, we were walking in a valley. There were some amazing views and plenty of waterfalls! We left my camera home and brought our small point and shoot, but still got some wonderful photos.

After the long hike, you are naturally starving, so you go through the same routine from the night before. At this point, you’re getting to know your fellow hikers pretty well. Almost all were foreigners and the ages ranged from the early 20s to 70. Germans, Australians, Israelis, Welsh, Dutch, Australians, and fellow Americans were represented (probably more nationalities as well….).