It takes three days and two nights to trek the Routeburn Track. The 32 km route passes through the national parks of Mt. Aspiring and Fiordland, providing visitors with magnificent and ever-changing scenery. Here’s to exploring New Zealand’s untamed wilderness on foot and making stories you can tell for the rest of your life.
1. Select your path.
The Routeburn Shelter to The Divide can be reached by walking the Routeburn Track or the other way around. The first stage in creating your adventure plan is deciding which way you will walk the route. Glenorchy, which is not far from Queenstown, is a half-hour drive from the Routeburn Shelter.
Starting here entails traversing Mount Aspiring National Park on foot and spending the first night in Routeburn Flats Hut or Routeburn Falls Hut. Walk to The Divide on Milford Road to come to an end. Select your favorite huts, decide which way you want to walk the track, and you’re ready to go!
2. Establish a schedule.
One may walk this magnificent course in one day and two nights, and some people have even run the entire thing in one day. Three days and two nights are the most common length of time to walk the Routeburn Track. This equates to about 11 kilometers of daily walking.
Making a schedule will be made easier by selecting which huts to stay in. Keep the season in mind. The greatest time of year to hike the Routeburn Track is during the Great Walks season, which runs from October to April.
3. How to get there
You’ll need a way to get yourself to the start and a pick-up on the other side, depending on which direction you book the track. Transfers via bus are a common choice. Easy transfers from Queenstown are a terrific way to mingle with other hikers before you set out on your journey. A wonderful alternative is to have your car moved.
While you’re out there taking in the wilderness, a reliable firm can drive it from your starting point to your finish line. What convenience, huh? Additionally, having your car waiting for you allows you to keep exploring the neighborhood after completing the Routeburn Track.
4. What to bring
The weather might be unpredictable even if you’re walking the Routeburn during the Great Walks season. Pack accordingly, taking into account rain and chilly spells. Consider a sturdy raincoat, a water-resistant pack cover, and perhaps even a sizable poncho. Even though the trail is well-maintained, sturdy hiking boots are a requirement.
You’ll be traveling about 32 kilometres on your back, so take into account the entire weight of your pack. Remember that everything that enters the national parks must also leave them. That means you must carry out your pack and put all of your trash inside.
5. How to prepare
The most beautiful scenery here has to be the alpine landscape. As one of the best multi-day treks in New Zealand, the Routeburn Track offers some of the country’s most spectacular natural scenery. The entire track is without phone service.
This is true both at The Divide and the Routeburn Shelter. Rain is also a possibility. The region is among the wettest in the world, with an average of 200 rainy days a year. Even if it’s clear in the forecast, there’s a good probability that it will shower.
6. Sights to be seen
The Routeburn Track is a fantastic hike, and the isolated landscape is breathtaking. The Routeburn Valley and the Routeburn Falls will be some of the highlights. You will pass Lake Harris and the Harris Saddle (the walk’s highest point) as you cross the border from Mt. Aspiring National Park into Fiordland National Park.
Conical Hill is an option you have here. Conical Hill is a diversion, but if the sky is clear, the extra effort is well worth the breathtaking vistas. When the trail crosses the Hollyford Face, it undergoes another transformation, this time taking the sometimes-narrow track along an exposed rock face.
Between Lake Mackenzie Hut and The Divide, there is Earland Falls and a lush beech woodland. Another fantastic detour in this stretch is Key Summit. During your walk, you might encounter birds such as the kea, rifleman, robin, and kākā.
7. Safety Advice
It’s best to let someone know where you’re going. Tell someone where you’re going, when you’re going there, and when you anticipate returning to civilization. If at all possible, adding a GPS or Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) to your pack list would be wonderful. The weather prediction should be checked before packing. If there is snow or other harsh weather, it is not advised to undertake the Routeburn Track during the winter.
