After arriving in Queenstown, one of the first things done was to check conditions for the Milford Track. In order to hike the trail a registration must be completed with the Department of Conservation or D.O.C. My target was to initiate the trail opening week of Spring. Somehow, no one told Mother Nature to stop the snow machine. I’m in a holding pattern until the D.O.C. determines that the avalanche risk is reasonable enough to support allowing hikers through the Alpine passes. (Beside the delay, I am enjoying the Southern Hemisphere alternate seasons.)
To help pass the time and train for Fuji, Everest, and Kilimanjaro I took a casual stroll up the slopes of Mt. Ben Lomond. The problem with this scenario is one should never “take a casual stroll” up any mountain. The weather was windy, cold, misty, and threatening. This put a damper on things and when my dodgy knee decided the trip was over half way up the incline it wasn’t hard to agree.
On the descent I took the “One Mile Track” (it wasn’t) along a snowmelt stream running from the main east-facing gorge. New Zealand is known for its display of lush green features and foliage. The return path sparked imagination and it was entirely tangible to believe that mystical creatures could exist in the pre-historic undergrowth.
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