Tramping, New Zealand
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 by AdamTrail + Camping = Tramping.
On one hand, you don’t have to portage a trail twice (once for your pack, and once for your canoe). On the other, you have to carry your heavy pack the entire time.
We decided to do two major tramps. The routeburn and the kepler.
We left our car on the side of the road and caught a bus from Queenstown to the start of the routeburn trail. The routeburn took us through a passing between mountains to a maximum elevation of around 1500 m. The scenery was amazing with crystal blue waterfalls everywhere you look. We arrived at our first of three huts in the early afternoon which was backed by a massive waterfall. The huts have bunkbeds (most handle 50 people), flushing toilets, and gas stoves for cooking. It does get cold at night though since the bunk rooms are not heated. Tara and I had to buy thermal underwear and thin touques (they had no idea what a toque was in the store) before we left. Fortunately, we had good weather during the crossing on the second day. On the top of the mountain you are totally exposed, and the wind easily catches your pack which makes it dangerous on the narrow paths that line the cliff faces. About 20 minutes after decending half way down the mountain and reaching our second hut, the rain started. It didn’t stop pouring for 12 hours straight. We quickly learned that beautiful green moss and rainforests equals lots of rain.