Milford Track Day 2: Clinton Hut to Mintaro Hut part of the New Zealand section on muellerworld

It was still mostly dark when I woke up at 6:20am. The German man across from me was already awake, but was just lying around trying to figure out what proper morning etiquette was. For people who have never done the track before, there is a little bit of apprehension when trying to decide when to get up and when to leave the huts and when to be where and all that. I didn't really have a choice: nature was calling. I slipped out of my cocoon and into some clothes, then tip-toed out of the hut with my toiletry kit and my breakfast.

I dropped my food off in the kitchen just a few sounds started to emerge from the other hut. I was the first one into the toilets and decided a quick clean-up was in order. I splashed water on my face and used some of that "sanitizing" gel stuff to wash my hands and arms. I read the label and it didn't mention anything about having alcohol in it, so I also did a quick scub of the netheregions to freshen up for Day 2. I can now strongly recommend that no one should try this, because it stung like hell. Bad idea! (thank god it evaporates quickly) I was very much awake now, and headed back to the kitchen.

Outside, the day looked like it was of to a good start - clear skies and no obvious threat of rain. Being the boring trail cook that I have grown to be, my breakfast was simple, quick and utilitarian. No fancy stuff, just hot chocolate, porridge (oatmeal) and a fruit bar. My water was boiling by the time the first group of trampers came into the hut and we were all soon eating and talking about the day ahead.

The night before, Rata had warned us all about the curious birds descending on the huts to see if there was anything left outside to destroy. A few people had forgotten to put their boots inside their hut before going to bed, fortunately, the Keas and Wekas had stayed away and do no damage was done.

It doesn't seem like a funky looking bird could inflict so much damage, but after seeing a Kea destroy every accessory hanging off of a rental car at Fox Glacier in August, I was aware of the amazing power and destruction they possessed. There are a few stories from the McKinnon pass of the Keas stealing cameras left unattended and there are many tales of backpacks that were ripped open by the birds when trampers walked away for just a minute to take a photo...

The Track

The second day is another easy one. As before, the Track follows the western bank of the Clinton River. The total elevation gain for the day is about 400 meters, but happens pretty gradually over the course of 17 kilometers. Just before the Mintaro Hut, there is a section that is noticeably steeper than anything up until then, but it is only a preview of the steepness that lies ahead during Day 3.

Tim and I left at 8:20am. The trail immediately passes the green 3-mile post, following a rapid section of the river for the next 2 miles until Kakapo Point where the North Fork of the Clinton River branches off to the right and the track continues following the West Fork.

A couple kilometers past the forks the trail scrambles across the debris from a large slip (landslide) that occurred in 1982. Shortly thereafter there is a view of the magnificent Hirere Falls and a private shelter for the guided trampers.

The shelter is clearly marked with "Private Property" signs, but Tim and I figured that we were far enough ahead of the guided trampers to take a look at the river near their shelter. The shelter has a small room with a couple of bunks and some good-looking snacks on the counter. Most of it, however, is just a covered porch which shelters trampers from the rain or the sun, whichever the case may be. We dropped out packs and walked about 20 meters to the water's edge. In this section, the Clinton River is remarkably calm and even. To the right, there was still some early-morning fog among the trees, straight ahead was Hirere Falls which was working its way down form near a 1928-meter peak. I had a small snack of M&Ms and we were back on the trail.

There is a small sign near Hidden Lake about 20 minutes past the Hirere Shelter. It signifies the first view of the McKinnon Pass, some twelve or so kilometers distant. Because of the quickly variable weather, it is not always visible and today was no exception as some fog had gathered in the valley both ahead of us and behind us.

A few minutes later we arrived at the base of another tall waterfall (Hidden Lake) the pass was once again visible. We decided not to swim in the lake, but it did look quite refreshing, and the weather was certainly hot enough. The three oldest members of our independent group were also at the lake. They were two sisters and one of their husbands. Originally from Scotland, but living in Upper Hut (north of Wellington) for the last 40 years, they were remarkable people carrying packs that were bigger than Tim's.

From here, the Clinton River Valley is much narrower and the mountains on the west side are much closer to the trail. During the middle of the day, the trail breaks out of the forest a few times in avalanche zones. There are several small ponds, many of them with a large rock in the center of them that used to be up on the mountain, but fell down and created the crater where they landed. The first time I was through this area there were signs up warning trampers not to slow down, this time there were not any signs.

We stopped at a small one-person bridge for a few minutes so I could take photos of a waterfall. Masa and Korai from Japan stopped for a minute to talk as well. We talked a little then hiked together for a little way before Tim and I moved ahead of them when we all got back into the wooded section of the track.

At kilometer 17, we passed the Bus Stop, which was our scheduled lunch spot. Since the weather was now back to being perfect, we continued past it for a hundred meters or so and took a break in a flood channel of a dry creekbed. There are two large bridges there and we sat below the first one out in the sun and said hi to everyone who passed us by.

Angi and Jenny were the first ones we saw, then Masa and Korai, followed by the three older hikers we had seen at Hidden Lake. Because we were so close to the Pompolona Hut, we also saw a few of the faster Guided Walkers. They were the first ones we saw since Glade Wharf. There was a guide and an 18-year-old boy who was traveling with his parents as a graduation present from an Australian High School. Our stop was only about 20-minutes long and then we were on our way to the Mintaro Hut.

The next landmark is the Pompolona Hut, where the Guided Walkers spend their second night on the trail. Back in December, I had been hiking along this stretch of track by myself and ventured down the short side trail to see what was down there. There was a wooden archway and one of the obligatory "Private Property" signs, which I sidestepped and continued to the small front deck of the hut. It was Christmas Eve and it was raining hard. Inside I could see two people setting tables and stringing up Christmas Decorations. It looked warm and wonderful and the unmistakable smell of a proper Christmas dinner hung in the air. I marveled for a moment and followed my steps back to the Track and continued on to where my Noodle Ramen dinner awaited at the Mintaro Hut. It should be noted that the Guided Trampers eat well.

In the next four kilometers, the track gains 205 meters. It is the first real incline that the trampers encounter along the track. There is a small sidetrack to St. Quintin Falls, but I decided not to venture down it. Somewhere along the trail a Weka was pecking away at something laying along the side of the trail. It looked like someone's lunch. It was Rose's, the Mintaro Hut Ranger. She was out doing trail maintenance in a particularly muddy area.

We had caught up to some of the hikers who passed us when we broke for lunch, and we all wandered into the Mintaro Hut together.

Mintaro Hut

The hut has a large front porch, and is the site of the ritual that every hiker goes through upon arrival: The Changing Ritual. Keas are often hanging out here, so everything must be kept off the deck, so everyone takes off their shoes, ties the laces together and hangs them on a hook or across one of the many ropes that are there for drying wet gear. I hung up my boots, socks, gaiters, pack cover and fleece jumper before slipping on fresh socks and my sandals. Everyone else was doing the same.

Tim and I chose bunks on the bottom floor, in one of the two bunkrooms behind the main dining area. There is also a large bunkroom upstairs.

A handful of adventurous trampers made the decision to hike up to McKinnon Pass, which is a very common thing to do. The reason they do it is because the weather is usually worse in the morning, and views are not always possible with an early morning start. Without a pack, most can hoof it up the hill in less than 90 minutes. The weather was questionable, so I decided not to go up there. In the meantime, I read a bit and wrote a little in my make-shift journal.

Some people had walked ahead a little to check out Lake Mintaro. I got my camera gear and started to go down there when I met Petra, a German woman who was traveling around New Zealand by herself. She had a a nice Canon camera, and one of the fancy "IS" zoom lenses. We started talking about photography and then ran into one of the other trampers who was returning from the lake. He kindly walked back down the path with us and pointed out some ducks and proceeded to tell us all about them. I was disappointed that there were none of the Blue Ducks around, but he was quite enthused about seeing some Paradise Ducks, Grey Ducks and a Swan (I think it was a Swan). We also spied on a Rifleman and a tiny Rock Wren with his binoculars.

He went back towards the hut and Petra and I wandered down the Mintaro Lake trail and hopped across some marshy land onto a small finger of dry, grassy ground. The ducks swam away from us, so we just talked for a while and watched a German couple try to figure out how we got over to where we were, almost falling in the water in a few places.

Upon returning to the hut, I had a slight chill, so I gathered some wood from the wood pile near the bathrooms and chopped and splintered some of the bigger stuff into kindling and headed back inside to build a fire in the pot-belly stove in the center of the back wall. There was an old Reader's Digests and some cardboard, and I built a little teepee inside the stove, using the paper and cardboard on the inside to try and get the damp wood to burn. I succeeded in burning a lot of paper, and getting my hands and arms sooty, but the wood was just too damp. Every once in a while a guy would stop by and see how I was doing. It was obvious that I was fighting a loosing battle, and no one offered any "well, I'd do it this way" pointers, which was nice.

Utterly defeated, I washed up and started dinner preparations (I did get the stove burning on the first try!). I made Noodles Ramen (Pork flavor) with some Surprise Peas thrown in. Ummm, Tasty.

Ranger Rose called the hut meeting to order at 7:30pm and told us all about the wrath of the Keas and Wekas. Her antidotes about the destruction and vandalism of the Keas were humor-filled, but we all knew we didn't want that happening to us. Her hut talk had much less death and burning that Rata's did the night before, but we all learned where the gas shut-off switch was (near the front door) and what to do incase of a fire (get out). She was an energetic woman who looked at home in the woods with her wild curly blonde hair and strong build. She invited us to a nature talk at 8:00pm.

We all gathered on the helicopter pad adjacent to the hut and raised off the surrounding ground. She started by reminding us that it was the female sandflies that were causing us all so much misery and then went on to discuss the local birds (and a few even landed on nearby trees and buildings to help in her descriptions). Clouds had obscured McKinnon Pass which looms above the Hut, but she described it anyway. She told us about the alpine flowers and plants and fielded some questions from the crowd.

There is a huge boulder behind the hut and Rose told us that a geologist had inspected it a while back, and estimated that it came rolling down the mountain to its current resting place about 300 years ago. It was real big.

By now the crowd was waiving their arms erratically trying to keep the sandflies at bay. It wasn't working and the question and answer period ended just as it was starting to get dark.

I loaded some film into my back-up camera and took some photos of the pass (which was now visible) and some more photos down the valley towards Lake Te Anau. Tim came out for a while, then Petra, then one of the Australian guys from Adelaide. It was almost 11:00pm by the time I had my tripod set-up for a long exposure to try to get some star streaks in the sky. The Australian guy came downstairs with a mattress and said it was too noisy for him upstairs, so he was going to sleep on one of the tables and try to get some rest. I followed his lead and snuck into my bunkroom and slipped away with a mattress and set-up camp at the far end of the dining hall on top of one of the tables.

At about 1:00am the clouds were starting to fill the valley, so I stopped my planned 5-hour exposure after only 2-hours. The rest of my night was restful and only slightly uncomfortable on top of the solid table (the mattress seemed really thin).

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