{"id":28704,"date":"2016-11-30T01:23:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T00:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peregrinusmundi.com\/randonnee-routeburn-track\/"},"modified":"2020-07-06T10:09:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T08:09:00","slug":"hike-routeburn-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peregrinusmundi.com\/en\/hike-routeburn-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty on the ridges of the Routeburn Track"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
DISPATCH<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Two weeks after doing the Milford Track<\/strong><\/a>, I am again entitled to four days of rest with my work at the\u00a0Lakeview Holiday Park in Te Anau<\/strong><\/a>. From Saturday 12 to Tuesday 15 of November. The weather is forecast to be fine and I decide to do the Routeburn Track, the third Great Walks of the Fiordland region. Being now in the summer season (since October 25), I must reserve my place in huts or campsites along the way. Having received my brand new tent (Hubba NX Solo<\/strong><\/a> from MSR) a week earlier, I opt for campsites. The place costs $ 18 compared to $ 54 in a hut! Along the trail are two campsites: one of nine places at Mackenzie Lake and one of fifteen places at Routeburn Flats hut. So I check on the DOC<\/strong><\/a> (Department of Conservation) website to check availability. There are still places available for the Routeburn Flats but nothing for Lake Mackenzie. The next available place is at the end of January! Since the Routeburn Flats campsite is near the end of the hike, I have to do almost the entire hike in one day! The other possibility is to bet on luck and hope for a withdrawal at the Mackenzie Lake campsite. While talking to Lenka, one of the ladies who works with me at Lakeview Holiday Park and whose companion is one of the guardians of the Mackenzie Lake hut, I learn that in the last few weeks many reserved campsites have been left vacant. Apparently a lot of people are not coming and that suits me greatly. So I decide to bet on luck.<\/p>

Saturday, wake up early to board a Tracknet shuttle at 7am. Contrary to what was announced, it is cloudy and raining a bit. The Routeburn Track is a thirty-kilometer hike through peaks and valleys starting at The Divide and ending at the Routeburn Shelter, which can also be done in reverse. The Divide is a stop along Milford Road that leads to the fjord of the same name that I start to know quite well after visiting it two times already. At The Divide, a whole group of cyclists is preparing for a race. The path climbs into the forest along the valley. The weather is quite strange mixing sunbeams and light rain. After an hour of climbing, I arrive at a fork: a path offers to go see Key Summit about thirty minutes from here. I opt for the detour. It is hot on the climb and the view of the valleys below is superb. But a gigantic mass of gray clouds seems to loom over the mountains of the Routeburn Track.<\/p>

Arriving at the summit (919m above sea level), I am greeted by gusts of wind and rain. The path makes a loop on a small plateau to appreciate small lakes and marshes, the view of the surrounding peaks, as well as Lake Miriam on the other side of the valley (a pretty lake in the bottom of a glacial valley). A superb rainbow spans the valley. It is one of the biggest I have ever seen in my life. The beauty makes me forget the cold that pierces me on all sides. I descend from Key Summit and take the main trail. Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at the Howden chalet by the lake of the same name. From there it is possible to start the Greenstone \/ Caples hiking trail which makes a loop in the valleys of the same name or to continue on the Routeburn Track. A cold wind refreshes me and I continue the climb. It is 11 a.m., I have the whole day in front of me. The climb is quiet, mainly on the hillside, alternating passages in the New Zealand beech forest (which I am starting to know perfectly after three hikes in the same type of vegetation), and passages in the open air with a superb view of mountains. The weather is better but a light rain is constantly falling. I meet a lot of people who almost all go in the opposite direction of mine.<\/p>

I arrive at Earland Falls, a 174m waterfall that I find damn impressive. Almost more than the Sutherland Falls on the Milford Track. The water makes a deafening noise as it pours into the river below. Around one o’clock in the afternoon, The Orchard, a small open area covered by a meadow with large yellow grasses, shows up for a meal break. I reach the hut around 3:00p.m. I pass the lodge (a gigantic, super-cozy thing with restaurant) reserved for hikers with a guide and arrive at the hut on the shore of Lake Mackenzie, a large lake in the bottom of a plateau with waters with superb blue reflections.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t