Kepler Track, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

When my friend and collaborator Colin Fox throws a conference in Dunedin (NZ) in January, I know I've got to make it down. I write from Dunedin now, which along with Missoula is my favorite town on earth, and the conference begins in about an hour, so I'd better be brief.

I flew in a few days early this trip so that I could do the Kepler Track, which is one of New Zealand's so-called Great Walks (link), and one of the ones we didn't do when we were here a couple of years ago. My buddy Al Parker from Montana State U., who is also here for the conference, was to arrive in Dunedin on the same flight, but missed two connections along the way, so I was on my own.

The drive from Dunedin to Te Anau is about 300 km, which isn't much by American standards, but the New Zealand roads are narrow and winding, and with a 24 hour flight under me and driving on the left thrown in, I couldn't relax, so I was exhausted by the time I reached Te Anau. 

The next morning, still on Mountain Time, I was up at 5am and on the track at 6.30am. My plan was to do the route in 2 days, 30 km each day. I opted to go counter clockwise, so headed off for Luxmore Hut first. It was a cool day and the walking easy with quite a bit of elevation gain to the hut, which I reached around 10.15am and brewed myself some tea.

Mt. Luxmore Hut

From the hut, the next landmark is Mt. Luxmore itself, about an hour up the trail.

View from Mt. Luxmore

The track (trail) from Mt. Luxmore on to Iris Burn hut is about 10km above tree line, skirting steep peaks, and following ridge tops, with great views in all directions. It's probably the highlight of the trip.

Kepler track along the ridge.

I reached Iris Burn hut around 4pm, spent. It was a good day with some clouds up high, but good views nonetheless. I slept well, despite being in a room with 20+ other trampers (hikers), and got another early start the next day. Given that it was an equal distance both ways back to my car, that the weather was going to be perfect, and that I so enjoyed the track up high, I opted to go back the way I'd come in. The other direction was a long valley walk, primarily through trees. I was glad I did, as the scenery high up was even better than the day before. I was back to the car around 2.30pm and made my way slowly to Dunedin, where I arrived at about 9pm.