I met Ken Baugh in Queenstown to get ready for the longest trek I walked on this trip, the Milford track. This is supposed to be the "finest walk in the world." That is a bold statement and given some of the wild, remote locations I have visited, I was highly skeptical that such a thing could exist in New Zealand. Maybe, I thought, the finest walk of commonly visited places, but surely not of all the world. I was to see for myself.
Ken and I had a couple of days here and set out one morning to hike Ben Lomond, a mountain on the edge of town. It started raining as soon as we started and became a deluge. Two hours later we were done slogging through mud and ended up at a lakeside bar drinking Bloody Marys. This is civilized training, after all.
Eventually we got going. We were on a guided trek. We had to choose this instead of going as "indies" because the few slots allowed per year fill up a year in advance. Even the more expensive guided groups fill up fast. This is one of the most popular treks in the world, after all. I was grateful for the limited numbers on the trail after the Tongariro experience. Also, this is a highly protected environment, there is no camping along the way. All hikers stay in lodges.
We loaded up on a bus (50 of us) and headed back to Te Anau. There you transfer to a ferry that takes you across the lake to the trailhead. From there you walk 20 minutes to the first lodge, an easy day.
Here we were on the edge of a great alpine rainforest, about to spend the next three days in total sensory immersion. The relentless rain forms dramatic waterfalls down the steep mountainsides around you as shown below. This was the beginning.
Some of the hundreds of waterfalls on the Milford track
Ken and me in Queenstown getting some last minute training for the trek
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