Routeburn Great Walk

Routeburn Great Walk
Category: Great Walk
Weather: Rainy and fine
Location: Otago/Fiordland
Distance: 33km
Website: doc.govt.nz

Date: February 2021

This was my last New Zealand Great Walk to complete and it happens to be the shortest. However, I would say its probably has the most technical terrain. There are multiple sections of precarious rocks that have to be navigated and they are often very wet.  But I get ahead of myself. The track is a point-to-point and the track can be accessed from Te Anau or Queenstown after a short drive from either. There are different options as far as car relocation or shuttle services. If you trust someone else you can do a car swap as well. I heard there is a FaceBook group looking for people wanting to swap keys on the trail, but I've not confirmed this. We decided on just doing the track as an out and back. So we booked Mackenzie Hut for 2 nights and left our car at the Routeburn Shelter. We would walk to Mackenzie Hut from the Shelter then out to the Divide and back and then back to the Shelter over 3 days. This is different from the previous trip I had to miss out on with a sprained ankle from a climbing fall, where they only did it from the Shelter to the Divide and I picked them up from there.

Day 1 Elevation

The first day we left Queenstown prior to 7am for the drive out to the trailhead. The weather was predicted to turn in the afternoon and we wanted to try to avoid it if you we could. The original prediction of snow to 1200m improved to only 1600m, but still didn't feel like getting wet on the ridgeline. The weather ended up being rather moody on the first day. We had low moving clouds and generally overcast making it great for photos. So I spent a lot of time with my camera out taking all sorts of shots. We covered roughly 21km and 1050m of climbing in order to reach Mackenzie Hut. This hut is a bit of a tease, as you get to see it well before you are anywhere close to it. As you descend into the trees again, it disappears and the track becomes a long rock garden of wet, mossy rocks and roots. This portion took some careful navigation as you wouldn't want to twist an ankle or worse. At the end of this you pop out next to some large boulders in a clearing and the hut is just past these. 

To sum up the first day: It starts with a bridge and then it starts to climb gentle at first then steeper. Then the rocks come. Then a flattish section. Then a saddle and a rocky descent. Into a rocky hell. The hut taunts you well before you can call it a day though. I would rather not be able to see it until I'm on it to be honest. Seeing it from that far away is just mean.

We were welcomed to a barely warm hut as the fire wasn't being well tended. Of course, our resident pyro read that the firewood was out back and that you could replenish the internal supply. The previous fire tender thought we only had 2 logs to keep the hut dry, but that wasn't the case. She soon had more heat coming out of the burner and we set out our clothes to dry. This hut has 2 separate sleeping areas. We took bunks in the main building, but were accessed via a different door and staircase than the common room. The other sleeping area was a separate building behind the bathrooms. But not as far as the Ranger hut. And definitely not as far as the cold lake, which has nothing living in it. The ranger gave a very long evening talk and that little tidbit is in it, but he doesn't mention it to any fishers though. He did regale us with several entertaining stories and the history of the track. 

Day 2 Elevation

I guess I should note that we passed 2 other huts and an emergency shelter prior to arriving to Mackenzie Hut and that there are designated camping areas. Since we were on limited time, we decided to make a bigger push than to stay at either of the other huts. We did stop by each of them and if I had to stay at either, I would pick the Falls as it has a series of waterfalls to go look at. 

Day 2 was a rainy affair, as well as our longest. Since we were staying at the same hut that night, we decided on only taking our running vests for the day. Each was loaded with additional layers, hat & gloves, a first aid kit, bivy bag, food, water, and a PLB. This allowed us to move quicker over the 24km as we wouldn't be weighed down with the gear we could leave for the day. We started out dry, but that only lasted about 5 minutes as we had a little river running across the track. Our shoes got soaked, but that is why I wear wool socks on days like this. This was to be repeated a lot over the day, as the rain was unrelenting and it would run off the walls and across the track in many places. There were many waterfalls along the track, but Earland Falls is probably the most famous. We got very cold faces from the wind and spray as you walk very close to the bottom of these falls. 

Track maintenance, is serious business

Before the steep descent into the Shelter we separated as Beth didn't feel like doing it as she had already done it before. So I set off at a quicker pace passing a group of guided walkers on their way up and out to Lake Mackenzie. After a quick stop at the Divide, where I took off my rain pants, I started back up the steep section. I ended up passing the same group of guided walkers, where they gave me a puzzled look. Some even questioned if I was the same guy they just saw going the other direction. I said "Yes" and sometimes I had to explain the reason to our madness. They mainly just shook their heads at me. I guess doing 66km in 3 days sounds kind of silly especially when you could pay to have your car relocated or be dropped off.

Day 3 Elevation

The final day was Mackenzie Hut back to the Routeburn Shelter. We woke up early as you typically do in a hut. What we didn't expect was to see a headtorch coming down from the ridgeline into the trees and the sketchy rocky section at roughly 6:15. We were all guessing that it was the car relocation company with multiple relocations in a day so they had to start early. We never did see who it was as they didn't stop by the hut and we didn't see them on our way up. On the climb we started to warm up as it was around freezing when we started. Once we got to the ridgeline, the sun was warming up the valley and the clouds were quickly retreating back to the cooler areas. 

At 9:38 am, we came across our first, single day runner. Don't know when he started, but it had to be bloody early. It wasn't until we got to the emergency shelter at Conical Hill that we saw our first trampers coming up from Routeburn Falls Hut. As it was already going to be a long day, we opted not to do the additional Conical Hill track. It would have been another 1-2 hour return in order to do it. Instead we we spent some extra time taking photos of Lake Harris and chatting with some of the people coming up. They were quick to give encouragement and tell you how far they think you are from the next hut. The day kept getting warmer and warmer and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There isn't a lot of shade from the ridgeline until you pass Routeburn Falls Hut, but after that you get some good cover. We stopped by Routeburn Flats Hut and had a nosey. It was about this time, that one of the car relocation guys caught up to us. It was only his 2nd time having to walk the trail. We were also passed by 4 runners heading out to the Divide. He said he wanted to be as quick as them as they'll probably finish in 4-5 hours. On this descent, my ankle started to get very angry at me. It might have been the close to a 115km week I just had or all the janky rocks for the last 3 days, but I just had to grit my teeth and push on. I could regale you of tales of how I injured by ankle years ago and continued to play through. Only to be told by Doctors later that I actually repeatedly broke my ankle and that the x-rays show the history of my jacked up ankle. Anyway, the track ended with us taking the nature walk loop instead of the trail we took on the way out. There was a deceptive amount of climbing that way. With my ankle feeling like crap, I wouldn't recommend it.