Day Twelve - Routeburn Track, Part Two

Day Twelve
Originally uploaded by bpelley.

We slept in this morning on the advice of our bus driver from the previous day who said it was likely that the morning would be a bit overcast and then it would clear later in the day. He was absolutely right. We hiked up above the treeline into an alpine grass plain and had spectacular views the whole way. All the while, we were following rivers ands streams up the mountainside to Lake Harris and the highest point of our climb, the Harris Saddle. We had a nice lunch at the top on the porch of the emergency shelter. The afternoon hike was a bit longer. We descended from the saddle along miles of switchbacks through the alpine fields and then through a dense rainforest to Lake Mackenzie, our second overnight stop. Despite the awe-inspiring scenery, it was very easy to note the lack of wildlife. New Zealand has no native mammals except for two species of bat. All the other mammals currently living in NZ were introduced by settlers. No snakes, no lizards, no bears. While it was comforting to know that nothing could eat us while we were out there, it was a noticeable difference from hiking in the states. For more pictures from Day Twelve, click here.