Sheeee-it… I just got bitten off, chewed up, and spit out by The Dusky Track! I spent the last nine days battling rain, cold, heat, mud, sandflies, tree roots, and just about everything that New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park can throw at a human, and it is good to be back in civilization again.

I will work on processing my photos and writing a proper blog post, but in the meantime, here is a super-brief recap.

Day One: Light, steady rain. Introduced to mud. Day Two: Climbed to alpine hut, more mud and rain. And then some snow. Day Three: Spent all day at alpine hut nicknamed The Fridge hoping rainclouds would part for the supposed fantastic views. No dice. Day Four: Long, evil descent down to opposite valley in the rain. Hurt my knee. Day Five: Extremely long, ardous, and absurdly muddy trek to the sea at Dusky Sound. Knee still hurt. Not rainy, but densely cloudy and very sandfly-y.
Day Five: Rained in at Dusky Sound. Rivers too high to cross. Welcomed day of rest, but cabin fever is nearly unbearable. Day Six: Stupendous weather. Sunshine! Decided to make up for lost day by doing double hut in one day. 11 hours of tramping. Day Seven: Body exhausted. Struggled up and over another alpine pass, but rain and no views. Bummer.
Day Eight: Relatively easy and painless final day, but managed to lose the track in a fern thicket for almost an hour. Weather gorgeously sunny.

The good news is that I’m alive and I’ve showered…slowly I will ease back into civilization. And I’ll start with a much needed pint at the pub in Te Anau. Check back soon for a more detailed description and some photos of The Dusky Track, my capstone to a fantastic summer in Fiordland…