Milford track Great Walk New Zealand

The Milford Track is one of the official Great Walks in New Zealand. It is fact the most famous and coveted one. Every year the hut reservation system opens on a particular day and a few minutes later all days are booked for the whole season. The season goes from late October to end of April. For the exact dates for each season check the DOC site.
During the season the track can only be walked in one direction, from Glade Wharf to Sandfly Point, and every person must move from one hut to the next one every day. You cannot skip a hut so you have to walk the track in exactly 4 days and sleep one night in each of the huts: Clinton Hut, Mintaro Hut and the last night at Dumplin hut.
If you are not one of the lucky ones to get a spot during the season you always have the option of walking the track outside of the official season. Remember that off-season services are reduced, not only at the huts but also water taxi services to take you in and out of the track. More important than that is the weather conditions which can get really dangerous because of the cold weather, the track getting flooded or snow avalanches. Add to that the daylight hours are much shorter. If that was not enough, probably the worst is that on King's birthday, the first Monday in June, some of the bridges are removed to prevent them from being damaged by avalanches. I have seen a list of the bridges that get removed each year but only hanging in one of the huts. As of today I was not able to find this list online. Not having the bridges available completely changes the game. You need to find a way to cross each river and some of them could be bringing a lot of water and a strong current. People have died in the past trying to cross some of these rivers.
May is off-season but since the bridges are still in place it's common to encounter a good number of hikers on the track, especially if the weather gets good. Keep this in mind because the huts can get really busy. Since you cannot book to reserve your bunk you may find that there are more people than beds and in that case you will have to sleep somewhere on the floor.

Another important thing to keep in mind if you are planning on walking the Milford Track off-season is that you are required to carry a distress beacon. DOC forces the water taxi companies to check for the beacon and also the hut tickets to be able to get on board and take you to the track.
This pdf document from DOC describes a bit more walking the Milford track in winter.

Enough of the disadvantages of walking off-season. On the bright side the huts are cheaper, you can walk in either direction, you can skip huts and you can also stay in the huts for as many nights as you want. And the best of all is that you get to walk this wonderful and coveted track!

I personally had to walk the track off-season, in early May, because I could not book for the season and my experience was great. The bridges were still in place, the track was not flooded, there was no snow yet, the weather wasn't cold yet and although the huts were busy there were still some empty beds. The only negative thing was that it was raining for the first two days and the sky really covered with clouds. It was really beautiful to see all the water coming down from the mountains, the rivers and the waterfalls but I could not enjoy the best views from the alpine section. I may have to come back and walk the track again to see it under different weather conditions.

To check the weather conditions on the track probably the best service here is NIWA. Also check with the Te Anau DOC visitor centre (Phone +64 3 249 7924) for the most recent information about the track.


Getting in and out

Milford Track is not a circular track. It starts at one spot, Glade Wharf, and it ends at a completely different spot 53.5 kilometres apart, Sandfly Point. Due to this you need to organize how to get back from the end point to the beginning.
Not only that but also you cannot just park your car at the beginning of the track and start walking. You need to get a water taxi to get you to the start of the track and another water taxi to get you out of the track.

There are several companies that provide this service. The one I used is called Fiorland Outdoors. I chose them because not only they provide the water taxi service to get you in and out of the track, but also the bus to get back to Te Anau Downs where you park your car. They even provide this service for the Winter season.


Walking the track

• Day 1: Te Anau Downs - Glade Wharf - Clinton Hut:
  
  We park our car at Te Anau Downs and board the water taxi. The track GPX has a waypoint named "Te Anau Downs (Water taxi starts)" for this spot. Mention that there is a toilet in this parking area in case you need it, just go down the gravel road for a few metres. The parking area may look small and busy but there is plenty of space if you go down the gravel road.
  
  The water taxi takes about an hour to cover the 31 kilometres to Glade Wharf, the start of the Milford Track. The ride is quite enjoyable and beautiful and once at Glade Wharf we disembark and right at the wharf DOC requires us to step onto a small plastic container to clean and disinfect our boots.
  Note that there is nothing at Glade Wharf, not even a shelter or a toilet. Here you will find only a signpost indicating the start of the famous Milford Track.
  If you need a toilet just walk for about one kilometre and you will get to Glade House. This is a private lodge but 200 metres further on the track you will find a toilet from DOC, right before crossing Clinton bridge.
  
  There is an alternative way of getting to Glade House, avoiding the water taxi altogether. That is by following the Dore Pass Route. This is the old way of getting to walk the Milford Track. It goes from Milford Sound road itself to Glade House. Although it's an official track from DOC very few people take it because it's quite long and challenging and recommended only for expert hikers.
  
  Getting to Clinton Hut from Glade House is quite straight forward. 4.6 kilometres of easy walking on a flat track. Since it's such a short walk I decided not to stop at Clinton Hut and go straight to the second hut, Mintaro Hut. You are not allowed to do this during the Great Walks season.
  
  


• Day 2: Clinton Hut to Mintaro Hut:
  
  From Clinton Hut the track continues to be easy walk although the slope increases mildly. 4 Kilometres on the track you'll find a toilet and another one 3.6 kilometres further, beside the private shelter Hirere. Another 4 kilometres further there is one more shelter and one kilometre later you'll find Bus stop shelter. Here you will find a sign stating to wait at the Bus stop if the river is flooded and for as long as necessary until the water level goes down.
  For the following 5.4 kilometres the slope increases a bit until you get to Mintaro Hut.
  
  


• Day 3: Mintaro Hut to Dumplin hut:
  
  From Mintaro Hut you have a direct view to Mackinnon pass, the highest part of the track and where we are heading next.
  There are 2.5 kilometres to the Mackinnon pass memorial plus a further 500 metres to the highest point of the track at 1154 metres of elevation. These 3 kilometres are the hardest of the whole track due to the slope, 540 metres of elevation gain from Mintaro Hut, but they are also some of the most beautiful. You have wonderful views down to Mintaro Hut and the whole valley we came in and also views of the valley we are heading to on the other side.
  After enjoying the views at the Mackinnon pass memorial we turn right to continue on the ridge direction to the highest point.
  400 metres after the highest point we get to the Mackinnon pass shelter with the impresive Mount Balloon (1847 m) in front of it.
  We start our descent and about a kilometre later on or right we find a detour to an emergency track in case avalanche risk is too high on the normal route. The emergency track is closed with a barrier when there is no risk. On the gps track you can find two waypoints, one for the start of the emergency track and one for when the track joins back to the main route.
  
  About 3 kilometres from Mackinnon pass shelter and 550 metres of elevation lost we get to Andersons Cascade shelter where there is another toilet.
  We keep going down and a bit less than 2 kilometres further down the track we get to a junction to take the optional detour to Sutherland Falls. Sutherland Falls, at 580 metres, is one of the tallest in New Zealand. From the junction to the falls and back adds about 4.5 additional kilometres and 170 metres of elevation gain which I believe are totally worth it.
  200 meters after starting the detour you get to Quintin lodge, which is private, but next to it there is also a DOC shelter and toilet.
  At this spot there is a signpost saying 45 minutes to Sutherland Falls, one way. You can leave your backpack at the shelter to make it easier to get to the falls and back. Don't forget your photo camera and waterproof jacket.
  About 700 metres before getting to the falls you'll cross a bridge. This is the best spot to take pictures of the beautiful Sutherland Falls. The next spot with good views to take pictures is right down the falls but the amount of water blown to you makes it hard to get any decent picture from there. Here is where the waterproof jacket becomes handy.
  Once back to the junction for the optional detour to Sutherland Falls there are about 3.2 kilometres to get to Dumplin hut, all downhill.
  
  


• Day 4: Dumplin hut to Sandfly Point and back to Te Anau Downs:
  
  The last day on the track is all gentle downhill. After 5.3 kilometres we get to Boatshed hut which is private but there is also a toilet from DOC.
  A few metres ahead we find one of the most beautiful bridges on the track, the one that crosses Arthur river, and a bit more on the track we find the beautiful and magnificent Mackay falls next to Bell Rock.
  
  6.2 kilometres after Mackay falls you get to Giant Gate shelter where there is also a toilet and a waterfall. From here we have a bit over 5 kilometres to get to Sandfly Point, the end of the track. At Sandfly Point you'll find a private and a DOC shelter and also a toilet.
  The water taxi boat will pick us up here and take us on the short trip to Milford Sound. Less than 2 kilometres or about 10 minutes.
  Depending on the bus service you hired you may need to walk to where the ferries depart to Milford Sound or, in my case, to Milford Sound Lodge, to get the bus that will take you back to Te Anau Downs where you parked your car.
  

In summary, a memorable and highly coveted 56.8 kilometres long track, or 53.5 km according to DOC, where it's not rare to get rain and some parts of the track get flooded.