Overview: three days crossing the mountains between Mt Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks on one of the classic great walks.
Hopping off the shuttle at the Glenorchy end the Routeburn Track, it's hard not to be impressed by the towering peaks surrounding the valley. The track begins with a footbridge over the Route Burn, before rambling upstream on the river's true left through lush beech forest. After 2.5 km, a footbridge over a small waterfall is reached. From here the valley narrows considerably and the track begins a sidle along the steep hillside above the river.
The track climbs steadily but gently up the valley, becoming fairly high above the narrow river gorge. The gorge section extends from ~2.8 km up the track to the ~4 km mark. Through the trees, impressive rock formations and the startlingly glacial blue water of the river can be seen.
About 4.1 km in, a short diversion off the main track leads to a riverside area called Forge Flat - a great place to stop for a quick rest.
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| Route Burn at Forge Flat |
From Forge Flat, the valley opens up and the track continues winding through the forest for another kilometre before crossing to the true right of Route Burn via a disorientingly swingy suspension bridge. The track is nice and flat so it's an easy walk to reach the turn off to Routeburn Flats hut, located on the edge of grassy flats at the confluence of the directionally inconsistent Left and North branches of the Route Burn. It's a quick 5 minutes from the main track to reach the hut.
Routeburn Flats is the smallest of the three huts on the track and is often skipped by trampers who more often stay at nearby Routeburn Falls Hut.
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| Curiously dry stream bed. |
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| Routeburn Flats Hut |
Sadly, Routeburn Falls sits on the edge of the mountainside overlooking the valley, so back at the main track the climb begins immediately and never really lets up. It's not especially steep, roughly 250 m of altitude is gained over 2.5 km, but it is constant.
The first building to appear is the private Routeburn Falls Lodge, which looks down of the Routeburn Falls DOC Hut, its lights shining ostentatiously and generator humming in the background. Though being a Great Walk hut, Routeburn Falls Hut is hardly slumming it. The hut sits right on the edge the mountain with fantastic views over the Route Burn valley. It consists of two connected buildings, one housing the common areas and the other two large bunkrooms. The bunks are all individual rather than the usual platforms found in most backcountry huts, which is a nice feature. Between that and the earplugs, I managed a pretty decent sleep.
A light rain had built up over the day and was well and truly settled in the next morning, along with a heavy mist. On day two, the track now heads further into the mountains, an area known as the Harris Basin - a tussock covered bowl surrounded by high peaks looming the mist. It's at once enchanting and slightly eery. The cloud seems to muffle all sound beyond the patter of rain on my jacket hood. Though I know I'm on a great walk track and there's at least one group of trampers 5 minutes behind me, I could be completely alone in the deepest reaches of the southern alps.
The track climbs through the Harris basin and a wide variety of alpine flora and rock formations. The altitude tops out close to 1300 m as it sidles around Lake Harris, almost 3 km from the hut. Chances are if you've seen only one Routeburn promo image in your life, it's probably one of the track cut into the steep hillside above a lake - Lake Harris. No chance of getting such a photo today though, as the lake was almost entirely hidden in the soupy fog. The briefest of glimpses were available when small pockets of cloud were blown around.
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| A hint of Harris |
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| This is not Lake Harris, this is only a tribute |
After Lake Harris, the track passes a tarn and the Harris Saddle is reached. There's a shelter here, though I took my break standing on the decking under the eaves that I deemed to be more inviting than the loud, damp and honestly pretty ripe crowd inside. From here there is the option to take a side trip to the summit of Conical Hill, apparently 1.5-2 hours return. Given the likelihood of finding only more cloud up there, I decided I couldn't be bothered and instead continued straight on to Lake MacKenzie Hut after a couple of exceptionally dry cheese and marmite sandwiches. Quite why Vogel's bread is so revered I will never understand.
From Harris Saddle, the track turns south and begins to descend across the Hollyford Face. Far below is the Hollyford Valley, across which lies the dark silhouette of the Darran Mountains among the mist.
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| Spot the Kea... |
The track here undulates a bit but is generally shedding altitude. The surface is often rocky and gives the ankles a good workout. There are some impressive views down into the Hollyford, and Kea whirl overhead. 8.3 km into todays walk, the track turns sharply around the spur below Pt 1310 to begin the descent to Lake MacKenzie. There's a nice little plateau at this prominent corner (which I think might have a name that I can't remember) that would make a good place for a rest, though given the weather I was more interested in continuing on.
Cresting the corner opens up views down to the lake and, tauntingly, the hut beside it. It's a quintessential case of so close but so far as there's still ~2.5 km of walking remaining, despite how close the hut appears.
The track zigs and zags down the steep mountainside, eventually descending into gnarled, mossy beech forest, amongst which is strewn huge jagged boulders.
Lake MacKenzie does not extend quite as close to the track skirting its end as maps might suggest, the shoreline rather sits close to what appears on the map as an island. There's a field of boulders and scrub, and a sign the points to a flood diversion track. Presumably the lake can inundate this area in the right (or wrong?) conditions.
I'd had a goal in mind of reaching the hut by 3 pm. There was no real reason for this beyond the vague forecast of rain increasing through the afternoon. I pretty much met this goal, and a good thing too because I'd not long claimed a bunk, changed into dry clothes, and put some water on to boil that the rain really began to settle in.
Lake MacKenzie Hut consists of a series of buildings - the main hut, toilet block, additional bunk house, DOC ranger cabin, and at least one other small building of indeterminate purpose. The main hut building consists of common areas on the ground floor, and an upstairs bunk room. Curiously, accessing the upstairs is via a separate external door that requires a brief exposure to the elements to reach.
I'd heard talk over dinner of a so-called "split rock" nearby, so the next morning I moseyed off along the track around the lake, following the sign for split rock track and the MacKenzie camp site.
The campsite and shelter are an easy 10 minute walk from the hut. From there, the track becomes a more traditional backcountry track but it's still an easy 10-15 minutes to reach split rock, which is located pretty much where the track marked on topo maps ends. The name is self-explanatory but understates the scale and bizarreness of the reality.
After the short walk back to the hut, it was time to saddle up for the final day on the track.
The track initially passes through low shrubs adjacent to the private MacKenzie Lodge before entering the bush and beginning to ascend toward the bushline. The section of track between lakes MacKenzie and Howden is frequently rocky and has suffered substantial storm which has largely been repaired though there is one particularly steep and slippery diversion around a significant washout.
The heavy overnight had brought out many small waterfalls that would otherwise be less impressive trickles or even non-existent.
The track levels out somewhat after reaching the bushline, and spends the next 3.5 km meandering around the 1000 m contour before descending again after Earland Falls. Shortly after reaching the bushline, an area know as The Orchard is reached - a clearing dotted with mountain ribbonwood trees which have a marked resemblance to pome fruit trees. The ribbonwoods first started making a prominent appearance on the descent to Lake MacKenzie, where they struck me as looking particularly exotic (i.e., not native). The large stand outside Lake MacKenzie hut prompted me to whip out the Aotearoa Species Classifier app which informed me that they were in fact the native mountain ribbonwood.
After around 3 km of scooting along the bushline, the spectacular Earland Falls is reached. I was peripherally aware of the falls as a point of interest on the track, but I lacked any real awareness of exactly how phenomenal they are.
Plummeting over an edge some 174 m above the track, the torrent of water rushes and crashes down, the force of it creating a tangible gale and a localised rainstorm. All no doubt amplified dramatically by the overnight rain. Emerging out of the forest onto the base of the falls was like entering a maelstrom, and I was thoroughly sodden by the time I back in the shelter of the trees. There is also a flood diversion track that diverts down from the falls but where's the fun in that.
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| Distant falls |
Now I'm always a fan of even halfway decent waterfalls so suffice it to say that Earland Falls blew me away (almost literally) and were undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip.
The track now winds down toward Lake Howden, once the location of
Howden Hut before it was terminally damaged by a landslide in 2020.
The landslide is still visible, and in fact forms the basis of the track away from Lake Howden. In what I also suspect to be a consequence of the landslide are some semi-submerged trees at the outlet of the lake. At the Howden shelter, which was once again full of clueless guided goons (including a woman who whipped out and inflated a mini sleeping mat type thing seemingly to avoid having to sit on the bare wood of the bench seat), I had the pleasure of a visit from some weka while I snacked.
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| Robin in a spooky tree |
From Lake Howden, there is yet another hill to climb up yet more rocky track to eventually reach The Divide. Less than a kilometre from Howden, there is a side track to Key Summit. It's apparently 1 hour return but with the heavy low cloud once again promising to hide any potential views, and lacking the mojo required to choose more optional uphill walking, I continue on the Routeburn Track proper.
From here it is a constant descent through more picturesque beech forest, glistening in the drizzle with something the DOC ranger at MacKenzie called "liquid sunshine."
A loud motorbike tearing up the Milford road drives home the reality that the track is almost over, and soon enough I'd arrived at The Divide to await the Tracknet shuttle to Te Anau, where a hot shower, real bed, and (most importantly) a pub were calling.
Without doubt a walk worthy of the "Great" moniker, a great experience all around, and one of the best tramps I've ever done.
Times and Distances
Day 1:
Routeburn Shelter to Forge Flat: 4.25 km, 1hr 15 min; to Routeburn Flats Hut: 7.51 km, 2hr 14 min.
Routeburn Flats Hut to Routeburn Falls Hut: 3 km, 1hr 37 min.
Total: 10.5 km, 3 hr 51 min.
Day 2:
Routeburn Falls Hut to Harris Shelter: 3.66 km, 2hr 10min
Harris Shelter to Deadmans Track Turnoff: 1.19 km, 35 min; to the corner: 4.66 km 1hr 59 min; to Lake MacKenzie Hut: 7.34 km, 3hr 10min.
Total: 11 km, 5 hr 20 min
Day 3:
Lake MacKenzie Hut to Split Rock: 50 mins return, distance not measured but about 1 km each way.
Lake MacKenzie Hut to The Orchard: 2.35 km, 1hr 4min; to Earland Falls: 4.79km, 1hr 59min; to Lake Howden Shelter: 8.22 km, 3hr 20min.
Lake Howden Shelter to Key Summit turn-off: 870 m, 30 min; to The Divide: 3.58 km, 1hr 14min.
Total: 11.8 km, 4 hr 34 min
Map:Elevation Profiles:
