Milford Road proved to be quite the roller coaster – sure the road itself is full of winding turns and elevation gains and losses with massive mountains, cliffs, waterfalls, and valleys all around you, but man oh man was there so much more to this adventure.
Key piece of information: shortly after leaving Te Anau on the 120km road to Milford Sound, one loses all phone and data service. So, hypothetically speaking, if you were to lose someone, have your car battery die, or I don’t know break your ankle, you would be royally screwed. Unfortunately, all of those hypothetical cases came true for Rachel and myself…
Lake Marian
Our first day on the road, we planned to check out Lake Marian, an alpine lake in a hanging valley within the Darren Mountains, and the 270m Humboldt Falls. Through some force of nature that I still do not understand, Rachel and I lost each other and, after a few hours of frantic search attempts, I ended up only going to Lake Marian solo (thankfully we reunited on the road back towards Te Anau before it was too late!).
The steep hike up is all rocks and roots until you get to a clearing where the emerald blue lake reveals itself with an amphitheater of sheer crags surrounding it and countless waterfalls cascading down. With the sun shining and almost no wind, the calm reflecting waters invited me in for a refreshing swim and some solid sunbathing afterwards. On a sunny day, this is probably one of my favorite short hikes in New Zealand – a perfect spot for lunch, swimming, napping, you name it! After finding Rachel, we set up camp at Cascade Creek, the farthest DOC campsite on the road, just in time for dinner at sunset.
Gertrude Saddle
With the chaos of losing each other now behind us, Rachel and I were excited to spend a full sunny day in the area…only to find out in the morning that a certain car battery had died. With no way to call for help, we drove back to Te Anau and back again, got the car fixed and were finally set to hike to the Gertrude Saddle at around noon.
The trail itself is often unmarked and should only be done in fine weather, as large portions of the rock surface could be lethal when slippery. On a sunny day, this hike definitely makes it to the “best day hikes in NZ” list. In the valley we crossed rivers with mountains in every direction you looked; while hiking up the saddle we crossed snow patches, waterfalls, small lakes, only to be greeted with one of the most breathtaking views in New Zealand at the top.
After a magical view at the top, we started our descent, Rachel going up ahead and me hanging back filling my memory card up with photos. When I finally caught up with her, midway down the mountain, she was apologizing for losing my walking stick during a fall. Despite laughing about the tumble, it was clear she was unable to walk on her foot at all. With quite a distance to go and no phone service to call for help, we knew we had a long afternoon ahead of us. And to think, she was more upset about losing a random stick I found, what a girl.
Thankfully, we spotted 6 strapping French lads descending as well, completely off trail on the other side of the mountain. I ran down to the valley to get their help and hiked back up to Rachel, where we added an American couple to our rescue team. Slowly but surely we made it back to the car park (~8pm), with each guy taking turns to piggy back our injured warrior, who never once lost her smile, optimism, and humor.
We drove Rachel’s car back to Te Anau, and when we arrived at ~10pm we found the only medical center to be closed (the next closest help was in Queenstown, over 2 hours away yikes). Eventually we were able to find an on-call doctor who sadly confirmed Rachel had indeed fractured her foot 😦
I stayed with Rachel until she left for Queenstown (with the help of our local Te Anau car mechanic who saved us more than once…), and then headed back up Milford Road, shaken and still unable to internalize everything that had happened.
I distracted myself with the beauty Milford Road had to offer: an ice tunnel right off the main road that the plethora of tourists are surprisingly oblivious to, massive twin waterfalls with a $100 note chilling under a rock as my “feel better MJ” present, a deep chasm that turns a mellow river into a roaring spectacle, and of course, Milford Sound, the world-famous fiord and sandfly breeding HQ.
I visited Milford Sound on 3 different occasions in the span of <24 hours, allowing me to fully take in its beauty in different light and weather conditions. I avoided the boat tour since I had done so back in 2001 and hey, you gotta save some stuff for the next trip 😉
Key Summit Track
With perfect weather, I spent the afternoon going up the Key Summit Track, the most popular hike on Milford Road, so-named because it is situated at the head of three different valleys with each river flowing to a different coast. The Hollyford flows north to the west coast, the Eglinton to the south coast, and the Greenstone to Queenstown’s Lake Wakatipu and further to the east. I had originally planned to do this hike as a side trip from the Routeburn Track, but decided against it with the crappy weather we were having at the time. Definitely good decision making.
After a <1 hour hike up, you’re blessed with this incredible vista, a short nature walk to appreciate the alpine terrain, and a view of Lake Marian from above.
Unknown to the vast majority of tourists, there’s a lot more to explore around here. An unmarked track takes you through panoramic ridgelines, more alpine tarns, dense bush, offering you a view of Lake Gunn in the Eglinton Valley and Lake McKellar in the Greenstone Valley. Definitely the highlight of this track!
I decided to book it for Queenstown to see Rachel off, with a quick stop over at the Mirror Lakes on the way back. Milford Road, I did indeed get to know you quite intimately.
MJ & the world 