Day 336: Routeburn Falls to Lake Mackenzie

The second day was the longest hike, from Routeburn Falls up across the saddle between mountains, crossing from Mt. Aspiring National Park into Fjordlands National Park, around the back of the mountain range and down to Lake Mackenzie. The morning began with very poor visibility as we were right in the middle of the clouds. I was too restless to wait them out, but didn't want to miss the best views of the hike, so I walked slowly in the morning and took lots of breaks to sit and wait as long as I could manage before getting restless again. My delay did pay off as around 11am little pockets of blue appeared, and then within 15 minutes the entire sky was clear.


The next hour or so of hiking was my favourite of the track as you cross through another valley, and head up through another mountain pass that has a glacial lake nestled inside.


Past the lake, on the final saddly of the range was a little day-shelter that marks the switch from one park to the other. There's also a side trail that leads up to the peak of Conical Hill. Conical Hill only takes 30 or 40 minutes to go up, but it's a steep, hard climb. The view from the top lets you see in all directions though, so it was a worthwhile sidetrip.


The entire day so far had been above the tree-line, and that continued as the path crossed over to the other side of the mountains and hugged along the side. There was a new view of more mountains and a river valley down below, with forest between the alpine grasses around the path and the valley below.


Finally the path curved around the side of the mountains and revealed Lake Mackenzie down below. Then it was a series of cross-backs down the mountain that was hard on my knees. Towards the bottom the path went through an amazing mossy forest of silver beech trees that is nicknamed the "Fairy Glen". Unfortunately it's pretty impossible to capture it properly with my camera (like just about everything on this hike).


After grabbing a bunk (I was one of the first there, so I managed to get one of the good ones) I headed over to the lake for a swim. There was a group of Germans waffling over the temperature of the water, and I swear it took them all least 10 minutes to finally work up will to jump in after standing with the water up to their knees. I just walked down a log and jumped in, and while it was cold it wasn't that bad, and certainly not as bad as many places I've swam. Wussy Germans.

Each of the bunk houses has a park warden stationed at them. It's their job to look after the bunk house and check tickets, but more importantly they also maintain the track and look after the surrounding parks. The guy on our first night had just given us a talk on fire safety, but the one at Lake Mackenzie is something of a legend in the parks. He's worked at Lake Mackenzie for 20 years, and runs an annual Christmas dinner and Highland Games competition that brings the other park wardens in from all over the country. His talk was a mix of annecdotes, information and stand up comedy (for the most part absolutely deadpan) that was absolutely hilarious in addition to being very informative.