Routeburn Trail

I was right and got my second helicopter ride. The roads were still blocked from landslides, so we took a helicopter to the trail head. It was fun, but not as interesting as the first one when the clouds were so thick we couldn't see the tops of the mountains and had to wait (hover) until they cleared a bit to pop over the mountain.

The Routeburn was different than the Milford, but in some respects it was more interesting. The first day of hiking was raining and the clouds were low, so we didn't get any good views. We did get to walk through a waterfall. It was very large and anything that was dry before that wasn't after crossing the waterfall! The second morning, we woke up to snow covering the mountains. It was their first snow of the season. It was raining as we started hiking, but as we gained in elevation, the rain turned to snow. Pretty soon we were hiking in snow. It was pretty slippery at first and there were some pretty big drop offs, but everyone was careful. There were 22 hikers on this trek, including two women from Chicago. (I have their names and e mails for Greg and Brad!) We reached a stopping point for lunch and there was a summit that we could climb, but they said know as it was very steep and it was still snowing heavily and there would be no view. I'll post of picture of me hiking in the snow in shorts.

The snow stopped on the way down and we had some beautiful views of the Routeburn valley and also some magnificent waterfalls. Unfortunately, the water was flowing too strongly to allow swimming in some of the pools.

The third day we hiked down from the mountains and along the valley out.

I believe that over the course of the hikes and this visit, I've seen some of the most gorgeous country I've ever seen.

I would recommend to everyone to consider doing the treks before age catches up with them!

Pictures:

1 - On the helicopter ride to the Routeburn

2 - This is the waterfall we walked through (taken from a distance)

3 - Snow at the pass

4 - Water coming down as we hiked down the other side of the pass

5 - Myself with the Routeburn valley in the background

6 - Routeburn valley with some snow on the peaks

7 - This is the pool we were supposed to swim in