Just wow: New Zealand trail huts
Nice article explaining the differences in NZ huts.
Mice issues there too. Mice follow the food. The food follows the humans. Humans equal mice.Don't want mice maybe....don't follow humans?
Should I go on with giardia, noro virus, human generated negative black bear encounters, rats,...And, yet in humanity's infinite wisdom and hubris we indiscriminately destroy rat eating snakes.
I'll report in on these huts in about 5 weeks, we leave in about 10 days for a few weeks down there, doing three of the major walks, Abel Tasman, Milford and one other, can't remember its name (our pals did all the planning). Plus, being a total Lord of the Rings Nerd, we're doing a couple of those tourist things. Plus visiting a lot of wineries....
NZ is on "sale" right now, you get a NZ dollar for about 74 cents USD. Plus air fares are pretty decent, our's is less than a grand from Denver to Auckland. Get 'yer butt down there! Nice way to warm up this time of year.
If you do want to do these popular walks, you do have to book right when the reservation time opens up, IIRC, that's 6 months ahead. Maybe I'm all wet on that, it might be a fixed date for their entire season. Again, I didn't do any planning or booking on this trip. Can't wait!
I have been to NZ and hiked 1/3 of the TA, plus other trails utilising the hut system. There was only 1 or 2 huts that had any mice problems that I experienced. The first 1 was because someone had had a party and left all their leftover food and boxes in the wood burning stove. (Thanks folks) The other one also had a trash problem. Much of the huts have poison baits around them to keep the rodent population down. I am not sure about the huts on the Great Walks as I used only campgrounds.
Ughh, CR can I go? You can say I'm your adopted child with an over active metabolism that makes me seem older. I'm potty trained.
TA is on my long bucket list but I might not get to it based on distance and logistics. One of my favorite bloggers is just starting the South Island and I'm hiking vicariously through her posts. https://serialnomad.com
HST/JMT August 2016
TMB/Alps Sept 2015
PCT Mile 0-857 - Apr/May 2015
Foothills Trail Feb 2015
Colorado Trail Aug 2014
AT: Rockfish Gap to Boiling Springs 2014
John Muir Trail Aug/Sept 2013
Some of the self supported huts along the Milford Track came with a NZ specific pest, Keas which are green mountain parrots. We stopped by one of the huts and there were signs warning "beware of the Kea's", as we were walking out of the site we looked up in tree and there as Kea looking for some gear left out. They will tear into anything left out unattended. They are a "pest/attraction" at the ski areas in the winter. They are also known to vandalize rental cars left at remote trailheads. Like many other native NZ species, the farmers really knocked back the population as they were claimed to attack sheep.
Great Walk huts are staffed with a ranger on site for six days shifts. They check hut tickets since bunks are full during the summer, give weather reports and do trail maintenance. They have their own separate hut. No mice problems.
Now the back country huts are unstaffed and come with what you’d expect from somewhere humans stay.
Yes the Keas are the bad boys of the bird world. They will tear the weather stripping out of car windows. The kleptos are the Weka. They will run up and runaway with any of your gear gear they can carry even while you are sitting there. I had one grap my knife out of my hands.Originally Posted by peakbagger
As I promised below, I'm briefly reporting in on our 3-week NZ experience....
Turns out we only did two of the major walks, the Milford (meh) and the Abel Tasman (better), spending 6 total nights in the huts. We were very pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness of the 6 huts, and all of them had very friendly rangers in attendance. Zero rodents seen, but plenty of those silly Wekas and pesky Keas, though none of the six of us had anything touched by either. Basically, just don't leave small items unattended outside. The ranger told us to tie our shoes together at night as you are supposed to leave them outside on the "deek" (AKA the "deck" or porch). Apparently Keas can make off with a single shoe/boot, but if you tie them together, they cannot carry two. Allegedly.
Anyway, one unexpected bonus was that the huts we stayed in had treated, running water and flush toilets. And a couple had charging outlets for phone junkies, even some Wifi along the Abel Tasman.
Fantastic overall experience visiting NZ, though calling the Milford Track "the finest walk in the world" is borderline ridiculous. It was very cool and somewhat unique, but not great and I personally would not recommend it unless you have lots of time to do other tracks as well. We enjoyed the Abel Tasman much better (even though it was stupid crowded), and folks down there tend to like the Routeburn, Kepler and Greenstone tracks better than either of those.
Friendly people (maybe the friendliest I've seen anywhere), GREAT beer and wine, beautiful lush landscapes, water everywhere, NZ is definitely worth a visit. Bring money though, as even though the exchange rate if favorable right now (1 NZD is about 75 cents US), everything is maybe about 50% more expensive down there.
I did the tourist self supported Milford several years ago and got a good stretch of weather in the late season for the entire trip. It was impressive. I talked to folks who had been then the week before and it was rainy and cloudy the entire trip until they were on the bus headed home from the sound. I think the hype for the Milford is for the supported side of the trip as its something that groups like familys and older couples with marginal hiking skills can still have a good time in a potentially scenic wild area and the accommodations are quite nice. One of the staff members commented that their target audience was someone who was thinking about a cruise. The reality was I had finished sectioning the AT the year before and hiked a lot heading into the trip meant that the longest day up and over the high point was about 4 hours. I was there for the down time and didn't mind just hanging out. Some of the family groups barely made it in for supper each day. There is no option to hike ahead to the next shelter as every spot is reserved so someone used to doing long days would probably feel a bit bored. It could comfortably done in three days and I think some folks run it.
I followed that up with the Routeburn. Keye Summit is impressive although it was cloudy the day I was there and it clouded up after that to drizzle on the way to the recently rebuilt supported hut. The next day over the height of land and then down to the next hut was a nice day but high clouds. The next hut was also fairly new and located right at the head of long valley. It too was oriented to a family/older crowd, the hike goes through a incredible area but its definitely done in style. Easy to gain weight with the amount food they serve. Only bummer was no beer at the huts (NZ wines).
I was solo without a lot of time to prepare so I went with the supported hikes. Once I got there and saw the resources available for hikers in Queenstown and a couple of other towns I would definitely go and make it up once I got there. There are hostels in many towns and shuttle buses that run everywhere. If you need specialty gear, you can normally rent it from the shuttle services and leave it on the bus when you are done with it. You can fly directly into Queenstown and catch a shuttle to town and then from there you can go the NZ park office and plan trips and get reservations. Getting on the Milford even self supported is tough but lots of options in the area.
There is also a regional hiking club (sort of like the AMC in the US), I think they are based in Christchurch,they run lots of trips including the Milford. People from out of the country can join "at large" and that gets you into their trip schedules.
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