Routeburn, 2023, Part One

The Routeburn is one of New Zealand's "Great Walks," traversing the mountains from Milford Road on the west to near Glenorchy, at the top of Lake Wakatipu, on the east. It takes in parts of both Fiordlands and Mt. Aspiring national parks. We did the whole trek (NZ: "tramp") in 2009, and have done bits of it on each of our subsequent visits to New Zealand. Many times. (Just enter "Routeburn" in the search box for previous posts.) This year we wanted one more great walk, and the eastside hike to the Routeburn Flats hut, if long (30,000 steps for us) is at least gentle and extraordinarily scenic. We drove out to the trailhead the day before and overnighted there.

Very helpful wall-sized map of the region; on an outside wall of

the (now very upscale) General Store in Glenorchy 

Relevant detail

On the bridge over the river Dart, looking north into Mt. Aspiring NP;
AKA the River Isen...Isengard and Orthanc stood not far from here

And northwest

A bit of Mt. Earnslaw (?)

Behind the camper: where we're going

I love watching a sheep dog maneuvering a thousand sheep around
a field...

Our destination is the Flat (well) beneath the falls 

Gorgeous big glass wall with the area topo on it...10x30...

And away we go

Obligatory swing bridge photo

Part of the beauty of this area is the clarity of the
water...and it jade hues...the Greenstone Track is
nearby, the traditional Maori route to the jadeite
deposits...pounamu

We've done tons of NZ trails...this is the first explanation
of the three blazes we've seen...perhaps an indication of
heavy tourist use, but no less wonderful

Some of the Lothlorien scenes from LOTR were filmed near
these environs

Great potential hiding place for hobbits hoping to evade the Nazgul

Trees vs. rock, episode #1,429; tree always wins

Pretty rock, nonetheless

Green everything

Lower stretch of a waterfall a bridge passes over

Upper bit; it was signed "Bridalveil Falls"; Bridalveil
Falls #1,279