Milford track loop v2
Milford trek is the most remote out of the 10 Great Walks across NZ. My adventure buddy Maciej decided to tackle how much of the loop we can make ourselves combining some biking and packrafting.
Considering complicated logistics, wind direction and bad weather storm coming in we decide to start at 1am in the night, just following by 9pm arrival to Queenstown, 3hr drive to Milford Sound (including setting up TA1 on the way in where we dropped the packraft and trekking gear). It was a beautiful night, with clear skyviews, no wind and good temperature around 10 degrees. The climb out of the Milford was gentle. Just before the tunnel we stop and turn off the lights to admire the shooting stars! The road to Divide is rolling but mostly downhill, Maciej was fluffing with his headlamp which wasn't setup correctly, I enjoy my AyUp Light setup on bike, no problemo! It did feel to me we were stopping too much on the first part of the ride (90km overall!): stop to refill bottles, to do #1, to take the jacket on/off, legwarmers - seems this needs to be optimized! The second part of the ride is more flowy, Maciej charging in front - I felt more conservative and saving energy for the rest of the mission. Also did feel I didn't have enough gears going fast on flat/downhills, my freshly converted 1x11 gravel bike (with 28mm road tyres). 44 in front and 11/46 on the back - I felt good climbing up but definitely could use more gears for downhill roads, The rest of the ride was mostly uneventful if not to count a duck which bumped into me with its wing and later a possum who got in the way and luckily I just rolled over it, avoiding the crash. Overall 4 hours on the bike - good Leg 1.
Our TA1 from bike to raft seems slow. First we have a debate over the use of PFDs, Maciej suggests using infalted drybags instead but I'm not impressed. Finally safety comes first and we agree on PFDs. Repacking takes a bit of time and we enjoy a coke and sandwhich snack! At 6am we are in the pure water of the Lake Te Anau.
We surrounded by beautiful mountains, and heading into the direction of snowpeaks. The early hourse the lake is like a mirror and we enjoy the scenery.
We were not sure what our average speed will be but expected it to be around 5-6 km/h. It was much pretty much it, with only exception that almost every hour we needed a quick stop: get water out of the raft (it is not self bailing but minor holes from the previous Hokitika trip); inflate the raft (we found a hole and pacthed it, packraft was airtight after this), #1 - seems when you are wet the flashing out goes more frequently (hydration levels were good!). I think we had a good nutrition plan, taking turns on the go.
Navigation was easy but some of the mark on the horizon seem so far awat and took as ages to get closer to them and see a bit of new scenery!
Around the middle of the paddle the wind picked up and it was a bit choppy but we are used to this living in Wellington. That time around 8-9am was hard for me as I saw some sleeping monsters - the water riddles seems like fish or eels jumping out of it! I think I even closed my eyes for 8-10 storkes, hope Maciej didn't notice. Somehow I got over that rough patch. Luckily the closer we get to the last narrow shoulder the less bumpy it became. Our navigation orienteer where two boob-hills (right on the picture!). We were surprised we didn't see any people or boats on the lake!
Last 2 hours of paddling were relatively uneventful, we managed to get into a good rhythm and ended the 30km paddle in 6 hours.
TA2: Raft to Trek. We deliberately took some extra time on this transition to dry the PFD, raft and sharskins (so we carry less weight). We used 40l and 20l backpack setup and the packraft went into bigger one (carried by Maciej) and I took the smaller one loaded with more gear. Sandflies kept us honest to quickly transition into trek mode!
Around 1pm-ish we started treking, with nice lovely day outside. I could not split the paddle at the begining and though will have to walk like this for 11 hours :) Luckily at the didymo station we managed to split it and I sprayed some of the gear with the solution.
Milford trek is the most remote out of the 10 Great walks, I was really happy to finally be here. The first 20km promised a well maintained easy track into a valley,
We tried jogging on flat/downhill sections.
Dore pass - another option linking this track but seemed like paddling the lake is a nicer option.
While the track is smooth we treat ourself to Radix lunches. I was hoping to get some how water in the hut but I bumped into DFOC person who told me I can only use hot water if I booked the hut. Cold lunch will do as well. I briefly confuse the DOC lady with details of our mission and head off to catch Maciej, only to find him sleeping on the side of the trail =) he says he had 4 min nap.
Surrounded by two steep rock faces from both sides the valley brings great views of the waterfalls. I wonder next time I should count them!
track goes through a lot of Avalanche zones which looks scary if you imagine how this place can look in bad weather.
The trek gradually climb to a 1200m saddle, halfway through this climb we meet 6 people trekinng light (staying in the hut?), do a proactive 15min power nap (while it is warm and sunny - although i barely snooze!). Agree to swap backpacks on he top.
The valley just opened up!
Just wow! Maciej kindly offered to photo me as well - I was there too!
On the top shelter we do a quick stop to refill water bottles, put the headlamps proactively and jackets. Decide to keep the bags setup as I just got used to food/water pockets.
on the way down we follow steep creek/waterfall which combines both technical trail and some wooden steps (great walk afterall!). We were hoping that after we clear out this creek there will be not much left to go. We are disappointed to see the 7hours left sign (that means it will take 3.5 hours for us!). this is just when it started getting dark, around 8:30 pm! This is also when Maciej starts to feel a bit low, we are not jogging anymore. Eventually we use the next shelter for a powernap (Maciej asks 20min but I secretly put 14!). This was already pitchblack and cold, hence Maciej was shivering and didn't really sleep, I think I slightly snoozed and enjoyed putting my legs up. We have to start jogging to keep us warm! next stop we change backpacks (I realize to my surprise that Maciej's pack looks lighter!) or it just the straps pushes different parts of shoulder/back? I try to charge in front when Maciej accused me of running uphill (!? - i think it was flat!). I take the pfd of his pack and this way he seems more comfortable and the split paddles in hand). We were still fast trekking relative fast 5-6km per hour but I felt i could be jogging much more. Last 2 hours felt like eternity. Finally we arrive at sandfly point , circa midnight. I slightly charged in front for the last 500m to start inflating the raft and feed the sandflies.
The finish trekking in just over 11hours which is a good time for fast trekking although I felt I could have been jogging some of the sections more!
The last item of the puzzle was the crossing From sandfly point to Milford sound. The original plan was to swim it but we disregarded that option quickly due to freezing water and being so tired after 23hr of mission. Second option was to packraft it but we were worried as we saw signed saying no watercrafts allowed on the rivers without permission (which we didn’t get proactively). And would anyone allow to cross it at 1am!? Anyways tired and scared we inflate the packraft…trying to avoid the tons of sandflies which get into my mouth when I try blow in some air in the boat. It is only 1.5km to finish the loop but seems like this is a uncertain eternity! Luckily for us , the night is still perfect , water is like a mirror … we turn off our lights to get the eyes used to pitch dark conditions …. And then I see this....The shape of Mitre peak and starlight sky welcomes us and reflects in the water - this is the highlight of the trip, moment of pure ecstasy…
I’m only scared of hitting some obstacles and damage the raft… I haven’t realized what a mix of fear being caught and sleeping monsters can do to you! First I confuse the post lamps white lights - I think this a group of people trying to catch us or get rid of the body into the water. Then Maciej & I both hallucinate a vessel near us and then I freak out when we almost hit a tree brunch which looked like a monster to me! After some fluffing and scary the shit out of ourselves, we cross the harbour and arrive at the boat shed car park with 23:55 at the clock…. Wow what a mission, what a memory!!!