Greenstone and Caples Tracks

As most of you know, there is world-class hiking to be had within a couple hour's drive of Queenstown. Steph had about 4 days straight off work, so we decided to try our hand at a multiple day "tramp" as it is called here. Obviously summer is high season for hiking, so many of the Great Walks are both crowded and really expensive. Most locals will tell you that some of the lesser used and well known hikes are actually better than their famous counterparts, so we decided on the Greenstone and Caples tracks, which run parallel to the famous Routeburn and can be hiked in a 64 km (40 mile) loop. Normally this would be hiked in a good 3 if not 4 nights, staying at huts along the way. This is the way to do it; taking your time and enjoying the scenery and wilderness, but of course that's not the way we were gonna do it. Steph isn't too keen on staying in the huts, since she heard they are infested with mice (very true actually), and neither of us really sleep all that well in a tent. So, why not just do the whole thing in 2 days? How bad could it be? After all, hiking is walking, and we can surely walk 30 km's a day, right? As it turns out, yes we can...

We probably should have turned right around and never started the hike, because it did not start off well. Before we could even get there, we got in a wreck. So we had picked up a hitchhiker - a German guy named Ollie that had just finished his hikes and was on his way back to his car - and were chatting with him when we came around a bend on a narrow gravel road to see another car speeding our way. I'm not sure if my natural instinct was to swerve to the right or if the bank on the right was just more favorable than the drop-off on the left, so I ended up just stopping where I was. Unfortunately where I was was too close to the bank and the other driver swerved into it, bounced off and we clipped. It wasn't all that bad really, but he was pretty adament it was all my fault and we don't have insurance, so we have no idea what will happen next. We're hoping it's just one of those things that happens and everybody goes their own way, but I'm afraid we'll be getting a call from his insurance any day now. It's a headache and I just want it to be settled.

But alas, we did start hiking, and hiking, and hiking. I will say that it was a beautiful hike - lush alpine valleys, crystal-clear rivers, open meadows (complete with cows and sheep), snow-capped mountains, a peaceful lake, and...mud.

The going was really easy most of the first day - most of it was along the Greenstone river in the shade, but there were some grueling stretches in the open meadows with the sun beating down on us. Still, at least we were dry - that was soon to change. The Greenstone and Caples rivers are some of the best fly fishing rivers around, so I made sure to bring my gear with me in case I got some time to fish. When we stopped for a break early that first day, I spotted a huge dark trout in a deep hole behind a boulder, so I whipped out my gear and tried for about 5 minutes to hook the guy, but Steph wanted to keep moving. I figured there'd me more opportunities the next day, so off we went. Towards the end of the first day we hit the muddy, marshy-like meadows, which we had no choice but to just tramp through and get our feet soaked. We had already done about 25 kms at this point, so our last 5 of the day was spent sludging through mud and generally being pretty miserable. Steph even lost her shoe in the mud at one point, which she sent me to retrieve. Regardless, we eventually made it to the McKellar Hut where we would spend our first night.

The huts, which are common throughout New Zealand, are basically nothing more than a kitchen area that is usually no more than a counter and sink, a dining area, a fire for warmth, and a bunch of bunks. We had brought the tent along, so we pitched it right outside the hut before going inside to nurse our blisters and cook dinner. There were about a dozen people staying in the hut that night - a couple families, a few others that kept to themselves, and two guys that had just hiked the same 30 km section we had. One of the guys was a Harvard grad named Ben that used to work on Wall Street but has since spent a year backpacking Australia and now New Zealand. The other guy, Viet, had sold him some gear at an outdoor shop in Dunedin and the ended up spending a week hiking and traveling together. That kind of thing seems to happen a lot in New Zealand. Anyways, everyone called it an early night and I went to bed hoping that Steph wasn't actually considering hiking the remaining 34 km's (over a mountain pass) back to the car the next day. I would wake up disappointed...

One thing I used to boost my spirits at the end of the first day was that at least we were ending our hike with mud and water instead of starting that way, as people going the other direction would. Turns out, we got to experience that after all, since our second day started with more water and a LOT more mud before going straight up a hill climbing over a maze of tree roots the whole way up. We were at least glad to be going up that way, since going down would be pretty slippery and thus dangerous. We couldn't imagine how miserable it would have been if it had been raining.

The views from the top weren't the best we've seen but they were worth the trek up.

Luckily the trip down the other side was much easier and we were mesmerized by the incredibly clear streams and lush fern-covered forest. We moved at a good pace for most of the time - except for a grueling 3 miles or so of walking almost exclusively on a network of roots that covered every bit of ground (really tough on the blisters). I kept telling myself that Steph would surely give up and we could stop at one of the huts on the way back, rest, relax, do some fishing, and hike out the next day. I still don't know what it is, but she was determined like I had never seen before. I don't know what would have convinced her to stop, and she may have been close to breaking at a few points, but we just kept going and going and going. The two guys we had met the night before had decided to complete the hike that day too, so we traded places with them many times that day and ended up hiking the last 5 miles or so with them. I can say that my feet hurt every single step I took of those 20+ miles we hiked that day, and I'm sure Steph can say the same, but we made it. Somehow. We were of course exhausted and almost delirious, but a hot shower was waiting for us at home so we jumped in and headed back. Ben and Viet couldn't resist either, and took us up on our offer to have a shower and crash on our couch.

I can say for sure that I have never been so sore in my life, and my feet still hurt 3 days later, but it was a good experience and was cool to meet some fellow travelers along the way. I doubt we'll be doing any big hikes anytime soon, but there has been talk of making a trip to the beach soon so stay tuned.

Click HERE for the rest of the pictures from our hike!