On the advice of some experienced senior trampers at the Altamont, we drove the 80km west and north of Wanaka (last half unsealed, with six fords) into the Mt. Aspiring NP to do the Rob Roy glacier day hike, out of the Raspberry Creek carpark. The hike took 4-5 hours and was exceptional, certainly the best day hike we have ever done. The trail climbed about a thousand feet, very gradually, through a canyon and then beautiful beech and fern forests, with ongoing views of Aspiring, Rob Roy, the glaciers, and the Rob Roy valley, whose walls featured more high waterfalls than I have ever seen before. The Rob Roy glacier hangs above the trail's terminus, and stretches a great distance. Dozens, scores, of great waterfalls plummet from the glacier and onto the cliffs below. We have seen many glaciers and glacial features, but never one so well put together, scenically, as this.
We got back to the Bongo about 6PM and resolved to “camp” in the carpark...too tired to move on, too enthralled with the surroundings, a really, really special place. (Camping in our case consist of putting up the roof). The Rob Roy valley must cover 60-75 square miles, most of it beautiful well-watered sheep and cattle country. The surrounding mountains are incredible. And Aspiring is at the head of the valley, overlooking it all.
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| Mt. Aspiring, I think |
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| Part of Rob Roy Valley; click to enlarge and see if you can count all 57 waterfalls in view; bonus question: elaborate a defensible principle of individuation for waterfalls |
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| Part of Rob Roy Glacier |
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| Another Part: Need a Bigger Lens! |
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