I woke up to the soft morning light coming through the walls of our yurt. It had been less than a day since I finished the Routeburn, but I was well-rested after a night in one of the best Airbnb’s I have ever stayed in. As with our previous Great Walk, we missed the cutoff to pick up our hut tickets for the Kepler Track the night before. We quickly packed up and left the yurt to head into the town of Te Anau.

We arrived at the DOC office before it opened. There were a few other people also waiting when we arrived. Talking to one of them, we learned that it was possibly to skip the first 10 kilometers of the trek by taking a boat across Lake Te Anau. They were planning on skipping the first hut since it was booked full and skipping the first section made their first day distance more reasonable.

After we had our tickets in hand, we decided to head into town for a last minute breakfast before hitting the trail. We stopped at Bailiez Cafe for breakfast. It was the perfect pre-hike breakfast, and it really hit the spot. My plate of sausage and eggs gave me plenty of energy for the day.

We drove to the trailhead, which was only around 10 minutes from central Te Anau. Since the Kepler Track is a loop, the whole walk is extremely accessible. I did not know this until about 10 minutes before I started, but apparently there is a second trailhead about 10 kilometers from the first, making it possible to cut the loop about two hours short. Since I had figured we would be walking the entire 60 kilometers, this did not phase me too much, but it would certainly come back to haunt me.

Day 1

Kepler Track Kilometers 0-5.6

The first ten kilometers follow the shore of Lake Te Anau. It is a fast section of the trail since it is mostly flat. This was the section that the folks we met in the DOC office were skipping. There was nothing super notable about this section, other than the forest was super lush, and we were constantly surrounded by huge ferns.

This section of the trail was also full of day hikers. Especially after our previous few days on the Routeburn, this trail felt way more commercialized. If you are headed to New Zealand for solitude, you will not find it on the Kepler Track.

At the 10 Kilometer mark, the trail arrives at the first campsite. This is where the water taxi stops for those who opt to skip out the first section. It is also the last place to find a restroom before the ascent up the mountains begins, and it smells like it too. We stopped here only briefly to use the facilities before beginning the climb.

Kepler Track Kilometers 5.7-13.8

The next section of the trail is absolutely punishing. It is a series of unending switchbacks through the forest, up the mountain. Switchbacks are psychologically tough even in the best of  conditions, but on the Kepler track, you are surrounded by dense foliage, with the top always seemingly right above you. This section felt really long. I powered through, however, thanks to my hearty breakfast.

I stopped once, briefly, to take off my mid-layer and then stopped for a bit to let Dennis catch up. Once we were walking together again, we decided to stop for a quick snack. Only five minutes past our resting spot, we reached the top of the treeline and came upon a large field of tussocks.

The final walk to the hut passes over some very fragile alpine meadows, so the DOC has built an elevated walkway. It is good for the ecology and also very aesthetic. After about twenty minutes, we had arrived at the hut. We were among the first to arrive for the day, so we had our pick of the bunks. After picking two good spots in one of the cabins, we went back to the mess room to make some lunch.

Side Trip To Mount Luxmore

We arrived at the hut sufficiently early, so we decided it would be worthwhile to make a few of the side trips from the hut. The first is the trip to Mount Luxmore. From the Luxmore hut, it is a steady climb up to the top of the mountain. The entire way up, you have a pretty clear view of Lake Te Anau far below.

About 30 minutes past the hut, the trail rounds the mountain and suddenly you have views on the rest of the Kepler range. The clouds were low enough in the sky that I could see them resting on the mountains as they stretched out before me, but still high enough to offer impeccable views.

Finally, we reached the top of the mountain. We were the only ones at the top and there was this sense of being on top of the world. We could see the hut below us, the lake below us, and even the town of Te Anau far below us. For the first time all day, it felt peaceful and serene.

After a few moments, the wind began picking up and the clouds appeared to be encroaching, so we made our way back down.

Upon reaching the hut, we were pleased to find a pair of cheeky Kea sitting atop the structure. We spent a few moments enjoying the sight of these alpine parrots and attempting to take photos of them. All we had were iPhones and a Fujifilm with a super wide angle lens, so none of the photos turned out as well as we hoped.

Side Trip to the Luxmore Caves

The other side trip from the Luxmore hut is the Luxmore Caves. Apparently these caves are created by glacial runoff carving through the sides of the mountains. We grabbed our headlamps and head back out for one last trip of the day.

This side trip was much closer to the hut than Mount Luxmore had been, so it only took about 10 minutes to reach the entry to the cave.  At the mouth, there were some instructions about sustainable caving. I had never gone into a cave before, so the information was quite new to me.

Inside the cave, the floor was much more slippery than I had expected.  Between that, the slope on the ground, and the instructions not to touch anything, I found the experience more overwhelming than I anticipated. When my headlamp began flickering out, I decided that I had had my fill of the cave and that maybe this activity is not for me.

We made our way back to the hut to begin preparations for dinner.

Evening at Luxmore Hut

When we arrived to make dinner, we found the mess hall was full of people. It was actually difficult to find a place to eat! But, we enjoyed our rehydrated food nonetheless. One of the more interesting things about the Luxmore hut is that you can see Te Anau very clearly from inside. It is surreal to be surrounded by the Alpine meadows in every direction, and then still see the lights far below. From the hut you could see the pink glow of the sunset touching the clouds as far as the eyes could see.

After dinner, the hut ranger made his evening announcements. The most important announcement was that a cyclone was due to hit the South Island the next day. This would cause the wind to be stronger than usual which could make the alpine crossing potentially dangerous. He finished with advice to get an early start, as the wind wouldn’t pick up until later in the day. With that, we cleaned up our cookset and head to bed.

Day 2

We woke to significantly worse weather than the day before. The fog was so dense, I could barely see 10 feet ahead of me. We hoped that the clouds would lift a bit during our crossing, but we were not holding our breath.

Kepler Track Kilometers 13.9 – 23.3

We head out and up the same path that we had taken the day before to get to Mount Luxmore. In stark contrast to our previous trip, the summit never once came into sight during our trek around the mountain. We took a brief pause at the fork that took trekkers up the mountain and counted ourselves lucky for making the trip up a day earlier.

We pressed onwards. This was the highest point on the entire trek, and the slight drizzle was closer in consistency to sleet. We were essentially walking through a light, wet snow.

After about 45 minutes of hiking, we came to the first emergency shelter. It was one of those places that you could tell would be absolutely stunning in good weather. Instead, we were just shrouded in a white blanket.

Not too far after this emergency shelter was a second shelter. This one came just before the last ascent of the trip. It was at about this point in time that we started running into people headed the opposite way. There weren’t many, certainly fewer than we had shared our hut with the previous night, but there were some.

We reached the last high point on the Kepler Track and all of a sudden we were faced with a stairway down into the abyss of clouds. Despite everything, there was something really stunning and dramatic about this staircase that essentially dropped into the fog. Unfortunately, the weather never quite cleared as we had hoped, and at this point we were now headed back below the timberline.

Kepler Track Kilometers 23.4 – 28.4

Once we were back in the tree cover, we began a long conversation about what the next moves should be. We had very unfortunate weather for what was suppoed to be highlight of the track. We were going to get to the next hut earlier than we are used to stopping. Some of the options that we juggled were to continue on to the next hut and hoping there would be a spot for us, or just pushing through and finishing the whole thing.

As we discussed our options, we continued down the switchbacks. Every tenth of a kilometer, a numbered sign would count up, simultaneously informing us of how much we had left to go while also filling us with anxiety over how slowly the numbers were iterating.

Eventually, we hit the bottom and found ourselves at the Iris Burn Hut. It was another beautiful hut. We decided that before making any other decisions, we should go inside, eat some food and warm up.

Because of how wet we got while hiking, we decided to cook some hot lunch. It really hit the spot, but also made us sleepy. Before we knew it we had drifted off into slumber, leaving our plans of continuing on behind.

Side trip to Iris Burn Falls

We woke up feeling groggy, so we decided to make the side trip to the Iris Burn Falls to get some blood flowing. It was only a 20 minute walk, but absolutely worth the effort. The falls are quite spectacular, and because of the wet weather we were having, they were quite full.

There are a couple Kiwis who live in this section of the track and we were hoping to catch a sight or sound of one, but we were not so lucky. They are nocturnal animals so it’s quite rare in seeing them in the daytime.

We made our way back to the hut and started making dinner. While we were eating, the hut ranger arrived and gave her informational chat. She was significantly less verbose than previous hut rangers we had met, but she told us that the next day would be more of the same weather, so it wouldn’t be worth making a trip back up to try for the views.

After dinner, despite our earlier nap, we found ourselves ready to hit the hay. We hit the bunks and were out quickly.

Day 3

We weren’t in any rush, so we got a late start. After lazily rolling out of bed, we took our time enjoying our oatmeal before we hit the trail. We had decided earlier that we didn’t want to walk the last 10 kilometers between the two parking lots, so we had booked spots on the shuttle. Our only goal for the day was to get back to the first parking lot in time to catch our bus. It rained a lot overnight and we were not looking forward to walking through the wet and muddy trail.

Kepler Track Kilometers 28.5 – 37.4

Leaving the Iris Burn Hut, we immediately began ascending. It was not like the first day though, only a couple of switchbacks. The rain was not super heavy but it still dampened our moods. After several minutes, we were descending again. The first part of the day was through rainforest, as the first day had been. We got to enjoy walking amongst the fern again.

After just shy of an hour, we reached “the Big Slip”. A couple decades earlier, during heavy rain, a giant landslide occured down the side of the mountain. This left a huge mark on the earth at least the size of a football field. Even 20 years later, no trees have grown in this section of the trail, so it just appears as a meadow in the middle of the forest on the side of a mountain.

Walking through this section of the trail was very peaceful. It was a misty morning, and the meadow felt very calm. The silence was a bit eerie. Walking through the Big Slip, it was easy to let your mind wander to the “what ifs”; especially since it had been very rainy the previous few days.

Kepler Track Kilometers 37.5 – 44.6

We left the Big Slip and re-entered the rainforest. As beautiful as the rainforest was, it grew tiresome quickly, and the kilometers blur together in my memory. At the hut the previous night, I had read about the efforts to trap Stoats and other predators. Apparently the effort to lay traps every fifth of a kilometer had been very successful in preserving the native birds.

This trapping effort had one negative consequence, however. The traps were all numbered, so I began counting down until we reached the end. Even though they provides a means to measure our distance traveled, counting down the kilometers until the end of hike really made the whole section a drag.

We got to one of the numbered traps, and I realized that we should be getting close to the next hut on the trail. It had to be just around the corner. The next trap came and we still had not arrived. Before I knew it, a whole kilometer had passed and we were still walking. We reached the lakeshore, so I knew the hut had to be close. Yet, the trail continued weaving through the forest.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the hut appeared almost out of nowhere. We had plenty of time to catch our bus, so we decided we would stop in this hut for lunch.

At the Moturau hut

When we got inside the hut, there was a fire blazing. It felt good. The weather had continued to be quite wet this day, so it was nice to warm up in the hut with some sandwiches. Luckily the rain completely died out by the time we got to the last hut.

There were a few other people in the hut when we got there. A couple of these people were familiar; some had been on the trail with us from day one, others we recognized at least from the night before, and a few faces were new.

Despite my best efforts not to eavesdrop, I couldn’t help but overhear two ladies a few tables over telling another hiker that they had left their car at the closest parking lot and were planning to hitchhike from the parking lot we started at back to their car. They were doing the Kepler Track in the opposite direction as us and this piqued my interest.

After building up a little bit of courage, I approached one of the ladies and made a proposal that could be mutually beneficial. If they would be willing to give me their car keys, I could go to the parking lot, pick up their car, drive it to the other parking lot and leave it there for them to find when they finished. This would give me an option to finish the track at my leisure, and their car would be waiting for them when they finished on a later day. We originally booked a car shuttle at 4PM to take us back to our parking lot but we were quite ahead of schedule so we decided that this would allow us to get back to Queenstown much earlier.

After some back and forth, we all came to an agreement. They handed me their car keys, we agreed on what the appropriate protocol for dropping the car would be, and then we went our separate ways.

Kepler Track Kilometers 44.7 – 50.6

The last few kilometers sped by. I was newly reinvigorated from the prospect of driving their car to bypass the last ten kilometers instead of waiting for the shuttle or walking all the way back. This part of the trail was also much more crowded since we were back in the realm of day-hikers.

Eventually, we passed a nice suspension bridge and arrived at the parking lot. A girl who had been in the hut with us the previous night was keeping about the same pace as us. She asked if we could give her a ride. We told her that we had never seen the car before. If there was room, she was more than welcome to join.

Finding the car was easy, it was a very particular shade of blue. Once we saw what we were dealing with, we told the girl she was welcome to join us. On the road, it was immediately clear that the car was in bad shape but at least in working order. Luckily it was only about a 15 minute drive to get back to our starting trailhead.

We arrived at our car, said our goodbyes and shoved the keys into the gas tank. Due to the weather, the Kepler Track had been a little bit of a disappointment for me, but it ended on a high note.

From my experiences with this hike, the Kepler Track is definitely doable in two days. My recommendation for those strapped for time would be to skip the first hut and continue all the way to the Iris Burn hut. It will be a long day but you will be rewarded with great views, provided that the weather is on your side! If you are not in a hurry the first hut has a magnificent location. It was definitely the nicest hut we stayed at in our time in New Zealand.

My alarm jolted me awake early in the morning and I immediately noticed the sound of rain pounding the glass ceiling of the Tahuna Pod Hostel where I was staying. For the past week, I was hoping that the weather would clear up before I started the Routeburn Track – one of New Zealand’s 9 Great Walks. From what I’ve heard, the Routeburn Track is one of the best hikes in all of New Zealand, weather permitting. Unfortunately there was cyclone that was forecasted to touch down any day now on the South Island and it seemed like we were already starting to see the effects.

We made it to Queenstown the night before and unfortunately missed the closing time of the ranger station where I was to pick up the hiking permits. I trudged through the rain to the DOC office and patiently waited for it to open.  After I had my hut tickets in hand, I hopped in my car and started driving to the Routeburn Shelter trailhead.

What followed was an hour of driving along Lake Wakatipu on windy roads, past the quaint town of Glenorchy. The weather was looking grim and the clouds looked gray and uninviting. After ditching the paved roads and up a dirt road past some very wet sheep, we finally arrived at the parking lot. Despite my best efforts, I still had quite a bit of packing to do at the trailhead. Fortunately, after we finished the last minute packing, it looked like luck was on our side and the rain had slowed to a drizzle and the clouds actually seemed to be dispersing.

The Routeburn Track is not a particularly long walk – it is about 18 miles from start to finish on a well-maintained trail. Logistically, however, it poses something of a challenge since it is not a loop and the two trailheads, Routeburn Shelter and the Divide, are 324 kilometers apart by car. It would take a full day to car spot, so the only realistic options are to take a shuttle service, or to hire someone to pick up your car and drop it off on the other side. We chose the latter, so before setting off with my gear, I locked the car key into the lock box provided by Easyhike and fastened it onto the door handle. We set off hopeful that our car would be at the other side of the mountains when we were done hiking.

Day 1

Routeburn Kilometers 0.0 – 8.8

Almost immediately upon hitting the trail, the rain came to a complete stop. Several minutes later, the sky cleared and all of a sudden it was a beautiful day. At about kilometer two, I felt over dressed, so I stopped to shed a couple layers.

The first part of the Routeburn travels through temperate rainforest next to a canyon. The foliage in this section of the trail is exceptionally lush. The trail meanders next to a river, occasionally crossing over. If you love suspension bridges, there are plenty in this section of the trail to enjoy. Without much elevation gain, the mile markers to the Routeburn Flats hut went by quickly.

Once past Routeburn Flats, however, get ready to climb. The trail gains just shy of 1000 feet in about a mile.  This part of the trail was still shrouded in trees, but every once in a while I came to a clearing with exceptional views of Mount Aspiring.

Finally, I arrived at the Routeburn Falls Hut and decided to stop for lunch. The Routeburn Falls hut is a destination in itself. It is perched on a cliff overlooking Mount Aspiring National Park while the Routeburn Falls roars next to it. I sat on the balcony of the hut eating a salami and cheese sandwich taking in the astounding views.

Routeburn Kilometers 8.9 – 12.6

After I was finished eating lunch, it was time to get back to walking. The trail changes dramatically past the Routeburn Falls Hut. It leaves the rainforest and begins meandering through the alpine section of the trail. Immediately upon leaving the hut, I climbed a granite “staircase” next to the waterfall. When I reached the top, my jaw dropped.

This section of the trail is spectacular. The trail is mostly flat through here, but it still took me quite a while to get through because I was stopping to take photos every few moments. The final march up to the Harris Saddle is some of the most spectacular backcountry I have ever experienced.

From the shelter on the top of the Harris Saddle, there is a side trip to the top of Conical Hill. I was feeling a bit short on time, though. I started making the trip up to the top, but turned around about ¾ of the way up due to time pressure.  Apparently from the top, you can see all the way to the Tasman Sea.

Routeburn Kilometers 12.7 – 20.2

I got back down to the shelter and picked up my bag and began my gradual descent to Lake Mackenzie. The few miles immediately passed the Harris Saddle wind along the ridge just above the Hollyford River. Even though the trail was smooth and easy, walking alongside a steep slope still left me hugging the inside of the trail.

After about an hour of walking on the ridge, the trail turned away from the Hollyford, and I got my first view of Lake Mackenzie. From above, the lake looked absolutely stunning. I was relieved to see the lake, since the hut would be right next to it. It was also reassuring that the trail was pretty much all downhill to the hut. By my calculations, I would make it down to the hut well before the 7 PM check-in time.

At Lake MacKenzie Hut

Within half a mile of starting the descent, the foliage changed from alpine grasslands to mossy rainforest. I would learn later that night that this part of the trail is called the Fairy Glade.  Despite the walk being all downhill, it still felt like a slog after the long day. When we finally arrived at the hut, we picked some bunks and immediately started preparing dinner. This was my first night in a DOC hut in New Zealand, and the facilities were surprisingly nice. I enjoyed my dehydrated meal and some Gomtang Ramen.

After dinner, the ranger gave a talk to us on the front porch of the hut. The talk was about the first ascent of Tutoko, the tallest mountain in Fiordland National Park. He was an interesting storyteller, and his tale kept everyone’s attention for a solid forty-five minutes. We learned that the Routeburn Track is the only Great Walk that goes through two national parks, and we spent most of this first day in Mount Aspiring National Park. By the time he was finished, the sun had set well below the mountains, and it was time to go to bed.

Day 2

After waking up, it was immediately apparent that our stroke of good weather had was all but fleeting. Fog enshrouded the whole valley.  The stunning mountains that encircled our hut were no longer even visible. Packing up camp went quickly, we ate some oatmeal, and then hit the trail for the last 12 kilometers

Routeburn Kilometers 20.3 – 28.8

This section went by really quickly. The terrain was mostly flat and there was nothing to stop to gawk at on account of the dense fog. Immediately upon leaving Lake MacKenzie, we arrived in a beautiful meadow. It was idyllic, but I was a little too wet to stop and enjoy my surroundings.

After leaving the meadow, the trail began tracing the hillside. On my left I passed the occasional waterfall, one of which towered over the trail and covered it in mist. On my right, I could only see the abyss in the fog. After about an hour along the hillside, the trail entered the forest. It was lovely, but because the weather left a lot to be desired, it felt more like a slog.

Two hours after leaving the hut, we arrived at the next hut along the trail. The walk up to the hut was on an elevated wooden path over some fragile meadows. Another gorgeous section of the trail that I didn’t get to fully enjoy on account of the wet and cold. We stopped for a quick bite of trail-mix and a trip to the loo, but we were so close to the trailhead and a bit anxious to finish up, so we quickly pushed on.

Routeburn Kilometers 28.9 – 32.3

Immediately upon leaving camp, we hit our last hill. It took about fifteen minutes to get to the top of the hill, at which point we started seeing day hikers who were hiking up to Key Summit. It was simultaneously a good thing to see day hikers: a sign that we had almost completed the trek, but it was also mildly infuriating since the previously empty trail became full of day hikers.

We decided against the side trip to Key Summit. There were quite a few people, and the fog almost guaranteed that there would not be any great view from the top. Instead, we pushed down the hill, through the rest of the forest towards the parking lot.

We spent the last half a kilometer discussing whether or not we thought the car would be in the parking lot at the end. Although the service had great reviews and seemed trustworthy, you could never be too sure of yourself. I put our odds at 75%, Dennis, the pessimist, put them at 40%.

At the Divide

Surely enough, we arrived at the trailhead and our car was not there. A stressful situation indeed, and we paced across the parking lot multiple times just to make sure. The trailhead, the Divide, was roughly one and a half hours from Milford Sound and two hours from Te Anau; effectively in the middle of nowhere. There also wasn’t any service so we wouldn’t have been able to contact the shuttle company.

We consulted the terms and conditions of the car shuttle service to see what our next steps would be. The terms stated that the car would arrive by Noon the day you finish the hike. Since it was only 11:30 so we decided we should wait at least twenty minutes before contemplating our next steps. We didn’t really think that they would make it at the last second but of course there was not much else we could do.

Thankfully, at 11:56, our car pulled up in the parking lot. We both breathed a sigh of relief. We packed our stuff into the car, and headed on our way to the see the famous Milford Sound.