The Milford Track Day Four: Dumpling to Sandfly Point

I had a solid and good night’s sleep.  I was completely out to it for most of the night; I didn’t even wake when the rest of the people came into the hut to sleep.  However,  towards dawn I was finding it harder to stay asleep.  My left foot was painful on the side of the big toe where I had accumulated a couple of blisters.  And the toenail on my right foot was also quite sore.  For those paying close attention, it was black and falling off from a previous incident on the Rimutaka Incline walk back in January (ok, I’ve since re-read that and I didn’t mention the black toenail.  I damaged it putting my boots on.  It’s painful, ugly, and falling off – but I’ll spare you a photo).

Morning View from Dumpling Hut

It was raining heavily throughout the night and that continued when I got up at around 5:30 am.  Daylight savings time had finished that morning, so I had an extra hour sleep.  And as an added bonus, the DOC timer was still on Daylight Savings time so the lights in the main hut came on at 5:30 am rather than 6:30 am.  I was hungry, so proceeded to the main hut and cooked up the Spaghetti Bolognase which I hadn’t had the night before.

I was feeling much better than when I went to bed.  The feet were still a bit sore, but the patches the Korean gentleman had placed on my knees seemed to have worked wonders.  They smelt vaguely like Deep Heat, so I figure they were infused with the same sort of anti-inflammatory.

Breakfast went down great, as did a strong sweet cup of coffee.  I packed up my gear,  and put on my wet shorts from the previous day (they hadn’t dried by the fire), pulled on my wet boots, and set off at about 7:30 am in the heavy rain.  I wasn’t the first to leave this time.  As we all had to make the boat within a two hour window (2pm – 4pm) others were just as keen as me to get there.  I was quite worried that I wouldn’t make it in time.  I was sure that I had conquered the worst of the Milford Track and it was behind me, but distance wise today was the longest walk, just over 18 km (or 11 miles – as they use miles on the track).

Immediately I was regretting that I hadn’t bothered to buy synthetic hiking shorts.  I was wearing cotton basketball shorts, the same ones I had been wearing for almost every kilometer I had walked during my  preparation, and chaffing caused by them had become a significant issue for me since day 2.  Usually, after some diligent application of anti-chaffing lotion, and whatever moisturizer I could scrounge from “the mums”, I had started each day chaff free.  But not today.  This worried me.  But surprisingly it stopped bothering me soon into the day.  I guess your mind just blocks the irritation out after a while (but I did feel it later that night and the next day a bit).

The Boat Shed

The heavy rain had swollen all the streams on the track, and it was a miserable 2½ hour walk to the first shelter / way point – “The Boat shed”.  There was no avoiding getting my boots soaked, I pretty much had to wade through each stream over the track.  They weren’t dangerous – much, but did come up to about ankle to calf height.  At one point there was a slip which had come down earlier in the season over the track.  That was about 200 m of climbing over slippery logs and mud.  There was a route marked, but it was slow and a quite tricky.  At another point the track was completely submerged for about 20 m.  A rope had been snaked through the trees marking a route a bit off the track through the water which was around thigh height.

Yip, the Milford still had a few tricks to throw at me.

The Boat shed was . . . a Boat shed, and not much of a shelter for independent walkers as it was locked and no where to really rest outside except to sit in the rain.  It was here the Peter and Jerome passed me for the last time and bid me adieu. It was good to see them one last time.  I owe Peter for looking out for me.

MacKay Falls

I set off again and it was more of the same, luckily without any more slips or submerged track.  But some decent mud and stream crossings. Eventually I came to the shores of Lake Ada which runs all the way down to Milford Sound and Sandflly point.  For some reason here I started to get very anxious and panicky.  I don’t know what brought it on.  But I kept walking and thought calming thoughts and it seemed to come alright.

Rest Stop View 1

Rest Stop View 2

Rest Stop View 3

On the good news side, the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out for the first time since I started the track.  I felt like I was making good enough time that I didn’t have to stress too much about making it to the boat on time, so I tried very hard to enjoy myself. The sun had lifted my spirits immensely, so I started to stop at every second mile marker.  The mile markers are brilliant!  They gave me something to look forward to seeing and celebrate as I passed them, counting down to mile 33 which was the last marker.  So from mile marker 28 I started to stop every two mile markers, have a drink (which I was being more diligent about) and have a bite to eat.  This worked well.  I got to enjoy the scenery in each location I stopped, and conserve my energy a better.

Lake Ada

Me at Giant Gate Falls

The next and last shelter was at Giant Gate Falls (which is the waterfall picture on the header of this blog).  I stopped there and had a bit more to eat before crossing the bridge in front of the falls.  It was one of the greatest moments on the track.

The walk from there was pretty straight forward.  There was one major steep uphill section which I wasn’t expecting, and for added fun it was all rock face with a mossy overhang constantly dribbled water on me.  But once that was over it was pretty much flat to the end.

The closer it got to Sandfly point the better the track got (the track was actually a road for the last 2 km which was built by prison labour in the 70’s I think).  I had taken up the habit of hitting each mile maker with my walking pole as I passed it .  I was getting more exuberant with each passing mile (after 31 miles I was resting every mile maker).  And I let out a load whoop of joy when I finally saw Mile Maker 33!

Mile Marker 33!

There was even a convenient log to sit and rest on there.  Sure the last ½ mile seemed to take longer than it should have.  But finally I walked around the corner and there was a the shelter at Sandfly point.

A rather affable chap was sitting there ticking off names on his clipboard.  So I needn’t have worried about being left behind.  I was aiming for 3 pm, and I got there at 2:30 pm.

Milford Sound

I clambered into the shelter where three others who had been with me were waiting.  They cheered and clapped and I felt elated, jovial, I wouldn’t say overcome with emotions.  But I was pretty stoked.

About 5 minutes after I arrived the boatman got us to walk the last 2 minutes down to the boat.  This was a little open top boat more like what I was expecting to take us at the start of the track.

The End

I watched the end of the track and the pier slide away behind us, looking up the valley back at a distant MacKinnon pass which I couldn’t see but knew was there.  It was an amazing feeling.  A sense of accomplishment doesn’t really express what I felt.  Relief was a large part of the emotion.  But I  had the biggest grin  on my face.

Not for the first time I thought about my father, how he would have loved doing that tramp.  I have a vivid memory of being a kid and watching something on TV about Fiordland, and him telling me about the Milford Track.  I thought then it would be something special to walk that track .   And now I have.

One Last Look Back

So what next?