Olsen has been doing all the blog stories thus far and tells me that its my turn to write a little about our backpacking trip on the Kepler track. Well as you heard when we got to the hotel the night before in Te Anau, everyone kept telling us bad weather was coming and maybe we should reconsider heading up the mountain. Looking at weather reports online, the forecast looked fine so we weren't going to back down. We headed to the local grocery store and picked up our food and other last minute items. Olsen talked me into getting some cheese and crackers. which normally I wouldn't bother lugging around in my pack , but since we didn't have the tent it opened up some room and sounded like a good idea. The cheese would end up being a major highlight of the trip. That night we loaded up our packs, preparing for whatever kind of bad weather was awaiting us and went to sleep. It was raining all night and howling wind up until 5am. At this point I was laying in the hotel room thinking this isn't looking so good. Sure enough around 8am the sun was shining and the clouds peaced out. We woke up and ready to rock! We parked the car in the overnight parking lot right next to the vistor center. Very safe parking along the lake, where there have been no reports of vandalism or break-ins for a decade. Which gave me peace of mind as I was tramping through the wilderness. There is an option to take a bus over to the Control Gates (the official starting point) to start the trek but we decided to take the 2 mile walk around Lake Te Anau since we were getting off the track at Rainbow Reach (about 5 miles short of the entire loop). We got to the control gates where we took our start shot of the famous Kepler Track sign and headed into the bush.
The trail starts out flat, hiking around the rest of the lake leading you up to the base of the mountains. It's very damp, thick forest -almost rainforest like. Big green leaves, moss and thick trees line the trail. The trail itself is very well maintained, almost looks like a park walk. Very friendly day hikers passed us by, wishing us luck on our journey up the mountain. After a 1.5 hour walk along the lake we came to a beach where we had some lunch. (This was the start of the sandflies - explain later) Then, we started the 4.5 hour ascent up to Luxmore Hut, our lodging for the first night. We hiked up very steep switchbacks (Kiwis call them 'zig-zags') that seem to go on forever. My legs were on fire, and sweat was pouring down my face. All I kept thinking is I have to do this for 4 more hours? There is no flipping way!!!!! The mountain was relentless...you would come around one switchback to turn onto an even steeper one! The worst part is you can't see the top because of the thick brush so it looks like you aren't making any progress. Olsen kept telling me just "one foot in front of the other."
We took short rests along the way, allowing our legs to catch a break. Looking at the map we knew that once we got to the Bluffs it would be a short climb and we were home free and on the top. We came to a point which looked like a bluff - excitement filled my body; only a few more minutes and we would be at the top! More like 30 more mins of grueling switchbacks, but we did finally make it to the top, and out of the bush. I was so tired, and my legs were in so much pain but when I looked over my right shoulder, I couldn't believe the view. Mountains, lakes as far as the eye could see. I looked at Olsen and said "well that sucked!" But I guess the pain was totally worth it! We snapped a few pictures and finished the short hike to the hut.
Luxmore Hut is situated pretty much on the side of a mountain in a sheltered area just before the ascent to Mt. Luxmore. Besides the fact that it was a hardened shelter in a place where you couldn't even hope to camp, it had a lot of unexpected extras (flushing toilets and running water!) that are quite foreign to Olsen and me. Add to that the awesome view, not having to carry a tent, and having a mattress to sleep on - sweet. After drinking some electrolytes and having a bread and cheese snack, we took the short hike over to Luxmore Cave, which we found out later you can go in over 800m (half a mile!). We only did the first 100m or so, because it was getting pretty tight and there was a stream flowing through so we would have had to get wet to continue. It was still pretty cool though.
At 8pm, the ranger (the huts are staffed all summer long) gave the Hut Talk, which gave us the basic rules, some history on the hut and the local wildlife. He mentioned that the weather was supposed to get cloudier in the morning with heavy rains in the afternoon. Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but at least there was a chance it would be alright in the morning. He also mentioned that we were at only about 1/3 capacity for the hut. We had 18 people with us, and the hut usually is packed with 55 hikers. Both the day before us and the next day were fully booked. What are the chances? It seemed like luck was on our side. We tried our second backpacker meal - Spicy Thai Chicken...yikes. It certainly was spicy, and also tasted gross. I managed to get most of mine down but Olsen called it quits about halfway through. By then it was almost 9, we were both exhausted, and we retired to our bunks with fingers crossed hoping for good weather during the alpine section.
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| Rainforesty track along Lake Te Anau |
The trail starts out flat, hiking around the rest of the lake leading you up to the base of the mountains. It's very damp, thick forest -almost rainforest like. Big green leaves, moss and thick trees line the trail. The trail itself is very well maintained, almost looks like a park walk. Very friendly day hikers passed us by, wishing us luck on our journey up the mountain. After a 1.5 hour walk along the lake we came to a beach where we had some lunch. (This was the start of the sandflies - explain later) Then, we started the 4.5 hour ascent up to Luxmore Hut, our lodging for the first night. We hiked up very steep switchbacks (Kiwis call them 'zig-zags') that seem to go on forever. My legs were on fire, and sweat was pouring down my face. All I kept thinking is I have to do this for 4 more hours? There is no flipping way!!!!! The mountain was relentless...you would come around one switchback to turn onto an even steeper one! The worst part is you can't see the top because of the thick brush so it looks like you aren't making any progress. Olsen kept telling me just "one foot in front of the other."
We took short rests along the way, allowing our legs to catch a break. Looking at the map we knew that once we got to the Bluffs it would be a short climb and we were home free and on the top. We came to a point which looked like a bluff - excitement filled my body; only a few more minutes and we would be at the top! More like 30 more mins of grueling switchbacks, but we did finally make it to the top, and out of the bush. I was so tired, and my legs were in so much pain but when I looked over my right shoulder, I couldn't believe the view. Mountains, lakes as far as the eye could see. I looked at Olsen and said "well that sucked!" But I guess the pain was totally worth it! We snapped a few pictures and finished the short hike to the hut.
 |
| Above the bushline |
Luxmore Hut is situated pretty much on the side of a mountain in a sheltered area just before the ascent to Mt. Luxmore. Besides the fact that it was a hardened shelter in a place where you couldn't even hope to camp, it had a lot of unexpected extras (flushing toilets and running water!) that are quite foreign to Olsen and me. Add to that the awesome view, not having to carry a tent, and having a mattress to sleep on - sweet. After drinking some electrolytes and having a bread and cheese snack, we took the short hike over to Luxmore Cave, which we found out later you can go in over 800m (half a mile!). We only did the first 100m or so, because it was getting pretty tight and there was a stream flowing through so we would have had to get wet to continue. It was still pretty cool though.
 |
| Luxmore Hut |
At 8pm, the ranger (the huts are staffed all summer long) gave the Hut Talk, which gave us the basic rules, some history on the hut and the local wildlife. He mentioned that the weather was supposed to get cloudier in the morning with heavy rains in the afternoon. Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but at least there was a chance it would be alright in the morning. He also mentioned that we were at only about 1/3 capacity for the hut. We had 18 people with us, and the hut usually is packed with 55 hikers. Both the day before us and the next day were fully booked. What are the chances? It seemed like luck was on our side. We tried our second backpacker meal - Spicy Thai Chicken...yikes. It certainly was spicy, and also tasted gross. I managed to get most of mine down but Olsen called it quits about halfway through. By then it was almost 9, we were both exhausted, and we retired to our bunks with fingers crossed hoping for good weather during the alpine section.
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