Routeburn track, great walk. Glenorchy to Harris Saddle.

I took advantage of my two days off and the nice weather to do the Routeburn track. It's one of the great nine walks of NZ.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/fiordland/northern-fiordland/routeburn-track/
The track connects Aspiring Park with Fiordland Park and its a one way hike that can be turned into a loop, if you have enough time.
I  only had 2 days so I hiked the trail from the Glenorchy side, up past the highest point at Harris saddle (then a bit further) and back down to the first hut on the trail.

The start of the trail

I mentioned my plans to Sophie and Annalisa, two incredibly nice girls I met at Bumbles. They really wanted to do the trek too so I picked them up at 6am and we headed to the trailhead.
The track begins in gorgeous Glenorchy an hour and a half drive from Queenstown.
We were all pretty beat that morning from lack of sleep.

Tree beards brother?

Forest shrooms

The first 2 hours of the walk were through beechwood forest and along the river until we finally arrived at Routeburn Flats hut.

 This is the hut we were planning to stay overnight. So we dropped off the bulk of our gear and did the rest of the hike with day packs.

There were heaps of bridges

After an hour and a half of walking uphill.

We arrived at Routeburn Falls hut. It was amazing!
I really wished we could've stayed there but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance. There is a beautiful waterfall right next to the hut and the view looking down onto the valley below was sick.

Routeburn Falls

After the falls we walked through a meadow.

The meadow

Climbing up from the meadow

There were distant waterfalls and snow on the mountains on either side. Then once again we were ascending.

After another hour we had reached Lake Harris.

Lake Harris

 Since the clouds were still hanging around on the trail above us, we stopped and had lunch and took in the breathtaking views from Lake Harris and its waterfall.

Lake Harris

The top of lake Harris falls

Time was running out. We only had one headlamp (I was a dummy and forgot mine) so I didn't want us to have to walk in the dark for too long. There were some really sketchy places that would've been a nightmare without a light. But we really wanted to see the top and I dropped off my pack behind a bush and we made a push for the saddle. Just as we were hiking up the clouds cleared and we could really see the mountains for the first time.

Almost to Harris Saddle

We got to the saddle and the views were just crazy!
So unbelievably beautiful!

Mountain top pond

We walked another half hour down the trail before we reluctantly turned around for the day.

Looking onto the Hollyford Range near our turnaround point 

When we were halfway back to the hut I remembered my backpack.
Way, way, way back up the trail.
I swear, I can't take me anywhere.
So I added another 30 minutes to my hike when I ran back up the mountain to retrieve it.

Lake Harris

Lake Harris on our way back

This also cost us an extra half hour of daylight. But luckily we got past the really crazy parts of the trail just as it got dark. We actually made pretty good time on our way back considering three people were walking in the dark with one light.
We stayed in the hut and played some card games with a few fellow travelers.

View from Routeburn Flats hut

The girls slept in the next day. Once we were up and fully caffeinated, we did the 2 hour hike back through the forest to the trailhead.

Creek waterfalsls

Creek falls

I realized I hadn't taken much of the views in on our way up, I think I was sleep hiking, so I really enjoyed walking it again.

But I was happy to get to the car....
I was already dreaming of the giant Fergburger that I was going to eat as soon as we could get back to Queenstown.