What's this got to do with my knob?!
The main goal of my west coast road trip was to hike up up up through the different layers of forest and gaze upon the snowcapped peaks of the Southern Alps. There were a few different hiking options, but after consultation with a friendly DOC worker at the visitor center in Haast, I decided to attempt the Alex Knob track in Franz Josef / Waiau. This hiking path is one of the best ways to see the Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere without paying for a helicopter flight.
The trailhead was 2 hours away from my motel and you're supposed to start early, because the glacier tends to get cloudy in the afternoon. So to the delight, I'm sure, of the people next to me at the motel, I hit the road at 5:30am.
I pulled into Franz Josef town / Waiau just as the first rays of the sun were peeking over the mountains. I charged up the EV and sought coffee. A couple of Kea were calling in the trees by the EV charger. (I tried to get a picture of them but they were hiding!)
I made it to the trailhead by 8am. I was hoping to beat DOC's time estimate, but even so, I was a bit intimidated by this hike, both in terms of the total distance and the elevation change (over 1000 meters).
And we're off! Right out of the gate the path is nice & easy, graded & graveled, cutting through treefern-bedecked lowland temperate rainforest.
A little bit higher and we start to see the mixed broadleaf and conifer forest that is so distinctive here in NZ. The broadleaf trees are mostly evergreen southern beech and the conifers are podocarps - Gondwana-era trees known in NZ as rimu, kahikatea, miro, mataī and tōtara. Many of these mixed forests were cleared for animal grazing across NZ, but they still exist in protected pockets and large national wilderness areas.
Of course the nice gravel path was too good to last... from here on up it's pretty much a constant incline of roots and rocks.
After about an hour, the intrepid hiker reaches the Rātā Lookout and is rewarded with his first glimpse of the glacier!
Zoomed in. Appropriately, at the Rātā Lookout you can see the beautiful crimson red blossoms of the southern rātā tree. Rātā are cousins of the iconic New Zealand Pōhutukawa "Christmas Tree", which I probably (and unknowingly) first encountered as ornamental/invasive trees in San Francisco! Perhaps most interestingly, the endemic Hawaiian trees known as ʻōhiʻa lehua derive from this family of trees (originally blown or carried over to Kauai from New Zealand more than 3 million years ago)!
After about another hour, I made it to the Christmas Lookout, another clearing from which to gaze upon the glory of the glacier. This was my second turn-around point, but my legs and lungs were still doing OK so I decided to truck on.
My advice to myself on this hike was "don't look up", because there's always more "up", and it can be disheartening.
Looking down is maybe more satisfying. Insane how close the ocean is to these mountains.
Finally on the home stretch! In the last mile or so, the trail emerges from timberline into subalpine scrub, and finally into alpine tussocks. I was definitely huffin' & puffin' but I could tell I was close to the top and I couldn't believe my luck in terms of the weather!
Holy crap I made it!
Summit view of the glacier!
Glacier gif.
At the current rate it is melting, the Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere will probably disappear within 10 years. I feel incredibly lucky to have seen it, even in its much reduced state. As recently as 25 years ago, it reached almost all the way to the valley floor!
After about 30 mins at the top, I said goodbye to the several fresh-faced, 20-something friends I made ("omg that was so easy!") (not pictured) and headed back down the trail. On 40-something knees, the way back was challenging. Luckily there was a lot to stop and look at now that I wasn't in a rush to make the summit.
Subalpine daisy.
Granddaddy tree!
Fern gametophyptes blanketing rocks.
By the time I hobbled back to the car park my knees and quads were shot, and I was quoting The Hours to myself out loud, but I felt as though I had accomplished my goal! And somehow I beat DOC's time estimate by 2 hours!
On the road back to Haast, I saw that the peaks had clouded up and felt lucky again to have hiked on such a clear morning - once again, NZ, you really put on a show!
Road Trip!
Taking advantage of these few January weeks to myself, I struck out on a road trip to the West Coast of the South Island - one of the most incredible regions we have visited so far in NZ. It's tourist season down here, which means there are a lot of people on the road and EV chargers can be hard to come by...
Lake Tekapo, one of the waypoints on my way west, is famous for its lupins, which bloom from November to January. I was lucky to catch the tail end of the show.
I decided to take a little detour to Lake Hāwea, one of the gorgeous glacial lakes that stripe the South Island high country.
The lake was too blue and crystal clear to resist, apparently. I had to take a dip.
Back on course, we arrive at the first hike - the Haast Pass Lookout trail, accessible right off of State Hwy 6.
The landscape here on the west coast is dramatic - dense, ancient (perhaps even Gondwana-era ancient!) forest on Paleozoic rock that has been thrust "rapidly" into the sky in the last 5 million years by the collison of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. Sandwiched on a narrow strip of land between the Tasman Sea and the Southern Alps, the forest displays incredible biodiversity across dramatic elevation changes... in other words, while you pay for it in terms of steep climbs, you are rewarded with amazing sights & revelations.
At the top of the hike, I attempted to use the timer function on my phone.
Let's try that again.
Across the road, I headed off on a longer hike, along the Bridle Track that used to be one of the only overland routes to the west coast.
My first swinging bridge!
One of the granddaddy trees of the forest (beech, I think)!
Made it to Davis Flat! Where I was promptly bitten by multiple sandflies (scourge of the westlands). Davis Flat is also right by the main road, which, as you can see, cuts right throught the forest, making for an amazing drive even if you don't venture out onto any hiking trails. You might be wondering if I was tempted to hitchhike back up to where I parked my car.
Gorgeous day, great hike. And a good warm-up for the main event here on this west coast trip, stay tunt.
Prudence Prevails?
I had been itchin' (foreshadowing) to get out on a bigger hike to explore the Banks Peninsula, and so today, finally equipped with appropriate footwear, I chose the Kaituna Valley track as my entry point.
The track starts off as an easy meander through rolling hills, dotted with sheep & willows. Larger hills beckon in the distance.
Hmm, what an interesting and non-ominous sign, I thought to myself. A warning for other, less experienced hikers who aren't me, I thought.
Wow, those plants do indeed look menacing, I thought. What kind of idiot could possibly blunder his way into THAT?
It was a brilliant day; light, lacy clouds tracking over the mountains in a gentle northerly breeze.
Made it to the hut! The DOC maintains huts all over the country for hikers. Some are first-come, first-serve and at others you can reserve a bunk for a nominal fee. (I haven't hutted yet, maybe some day...)
Inside the hut.
I decided to press on in an attempt to reach the summit of the mountain/hill pictured earlier. The path went through some nice, shady areas of more undisturbed "bush", which I failed to photograph, and then emerged onto some higher pasture land. Looking back you can see the tiny hut in the distance!
It was about here that I ran out of water, and the path got tricky - obscured by tall grass, steep & rocky. I had to make a choice... do I keep going? I think I was close to the summit but I had no way to know for sure. Or do I turn around? I could already feel my legs going to jelly and I had a long walk back.
What would you do?
I turned around. Saved the summit for a future hike, hopefully with a hiking buddy. Perhaps this was the right decision, or perhaps this is a metaphor for larger things.
Oof, the way back was rough. Going downhill is worse, somehow, than going up. I learned a few valuable lessons:
The last picture I took, stumbling back to the carpark, arm be-nettled and aflame, was of this judgemental-ass cow.
