The Freewalkers Guide to the Milford Track: Day One - Enter the Shadowlands
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 8:26PM The pure white froth of the boat’s wake mirrored the light, wispy clouds perfectly. I leaned back on the wooden bench of the ferry and stretched like a languid lizard as the snow capped peaks slowly floated by my peripheral vision. Directly in front of me, fifteen packs sat, some grotesquely huge. It was October 25, 2006, the first day of the “tramping” season, and we were on a boat in New Zealand. According to everyone we had met, we were lucky that the Milford Track had opened on schedule.
Apparently, the winter of 2006 had dropped a sizeable amount of snowfall on New Zealand, breaking records set in the 1940’s. Moreover, the winter weather had been extraordinarily persistent, with slight accumulations occurring up to the week before the season began. Despite the past bad weather, it was a warm, sunny day for the start of our hike. All fifteen of us on the boat were “freewalkers”.
We were considered “freewalkers” because we were going to carry our own weight for the whole backpack. This concept was nothing new to me, as I had always carried my own weight. What was surprising to me was that being a “freewalker” was not standard practice for many Milford trekkers. Once in New Zealand, I had learned that most of the trail’s walkers were “guided”, meaning that their packs were carried by other people on a daily basis, and that they always had fresh meals, hot showers, and soft beds waiting for them in their Lodge accommodations.
It was explained to me that guided walkers would not deign to sleep in the barrack style huts that I would be frequenting. Despite the obvious charms of being a guided walker, there really was not a choice for my wife and me because the guided walk season had not yet started. We were simply going to walk the trail as shower-less vagabonds. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my wife still eyeing her bag nervously. In a reassuring manner, I squeezed her shoulder sympathetically, and pointed out how much smaller our packs were than the other bags.
My comments weren’t simply a motivational ploy. Our bags really were the smallest, and, by my eye-estimation, the lightest of the group. I had a day and one half pack, and my wife had a daypack. I had also applied the lessons we had learned from our backpack on the Abel Tasman Coast Track. On that trek, my bag had become progressively heavier as the days passed. Correspondingly, before we had left for Milford, we had selected and packed a bare minimum of gear.
My bag had all the permanent supplies such as sleeping bags, clothes, and other necessaries. My wife’s bag would only become lighter over the course of the trip, because she had all of the disposable gear – the food – in it. My estimation of our total weight was between 55-65 pounds, two-thirds of which was in my bag. I knew that my wife would definitely be able to finish the hike, because I could carry her bag in a pinch. After our whispered conversation, there was nothing to do but continue to watch Lake Te Anau pass by in quiet cerulean style.
We were on Lake Te Anau because there was no other way to reach the Milford trailhead. Several hours prior to the boat trip, we had arrived at the DOC office, and caught a bus which had driven us to the boat, which we now were cruising on. I liked the concept. The sweet isolation that the absence of roads brought was definitely something to savor. Suddenly, the boat’s engine cut out, and silence began to lap against its hull. We shouldered our packs, and clunked across the wooden dock and into the spotted darkness cast by the waiting forest.
While on the Milford Sound, we had been told that the Maori had first used a similar route to the Milford Track to approach the Sound, and that they had known the area of Fiordland National Park as “Ata Whenua” or the “Shadowlands”. As we crunched our first steps down the trail, the knowledge that we were following the path of history was impressive. The verdant green boughs of the forest that encompassed the sky and split the sunlight, however, were even more inspiring with their timeless beauty.
Reader Comments (12)
1) Learning about a new place;
2) The description that this writer give things;
3) Overall content.
Things I'm not sure of:
1) I think the writer may be a little overly chauvanistic to his wife. After all, women are tough! I think he should give her a little more credit.
THoughts?
1) I do have photos; I will see about posting some shortly.
2) I think I have addressed the lightness issue; drop me a line if you need to know more!