Milford Track Day Hike

This morning after seeing that glorious sunrise I went to meet my hiking group for the day. Since it was the last day of the season I was the only hiker, classic. When the guide got there and realized it was just me on the list he must have called his daughter because she soon joined us, it was a relief. I'm not super fond of the idea of going into the woods for full day with a stranger no matter how nice they are. She was about my age and on school holidays from being a teacher, so it worked out great. They were both so nice and full of information. It was an incredibly memorable day. I may or may not have told them how in love with their country I am a number of times. We caught a bus to the boat with another group boarded and set off. The boat ride is about an hour to Te Anau Downs where the track starts. The full track is 3-5 days guided or unguided. I was originally going to do that but decided it was too short a trip for that. I felt pretty happy about that decision when my bag didn't show up. The boat ride has to be one of the best I have ever been on. You just glide through the lake gawking at the surroundings. Every kind of mountain shape you can imagine can be found in the lake. I got off the boat and was just in awe of the ride we had just taken. For the day hike you basically do a couple of miles of the normal first day of the track plus the Glade Burn Track. We hiked about 20 minutes, a leisurely stroll really to the Glade House where we had some lunch. The house is nestled between bunches of mountains in a grassy area, it was like a movie. After lunch we went out on the track and did about 2 miles before we headed back to take the Glade Burn Track. It is a lot less manicured than the Milford and it gives you a great opportunity to examine the forest on a whole new level. It was fantastic. It peaks at the Glad Burn which is a mountain river. On the way back down we hiked down what was surely a dry, ver rocky, river bed. It was a little treacherous considering my hiking boots were in the bottom of my luggage in LA or over the ocean somewhere. We made it down and took the boat back another hour. I had a lovely chat with the captain after I asked him what the deepest depth was. He showed me this great map/chart with all the depth, 417 meters is the deepest in this lake. It was an amazing amazing day and I am so glad that they didn't cancel the hike and let me have a private one. What a day!