Top 10 Tips for The Milford Track

Milford Track is a 55.4km hike through the Milford Sound wilderness of New Zealand. It's an amazing place filled with beautiful mountains, rivers, birds, trees and other such things you find in the wilderness. Mark, Dan, and myself accomplished this feat over a four day period.

Now, before you go on the track you have to do some reading on how to get there, the daily routes, what to bring, etc. The Department of Conservation puts together a brochure with tips on how to do the hike. They include, as you would assume, things like "bring a pair of sturdy and worn in hiking boots" and "jeans and cotton shirts are not acceptable attire" (ahem, Dan). These are all very good tips to adhere to. But after doing the hike, I decided to write my own Top 10. Here they are, in no specific order.

1. Choose your companions wisely. Take along good friends and husbands who will carry the food and cooking supplies so your pack can be lighter. It is also good if they are optimistic and encouraging when you get tired and complain - even though your pack is lighter than theirs.

2. Know your enemy - the New Zealand sand fly. Those little jerks are everywhere. Invest in some heavy duty DEET repellent that is likely dangerous to your own health (seeing as it melts off nail polish) but keeps the flies at bay. Also, it helps if one of your companions seems to attract flies more than you (ahem, Dan).

3. Wet weather gear is a must. It will likely rain at some point on your trek (lucky you if it happens to be Day 3 which is the hardest hiking day - 2 hours up and 2 hours down) so be prepared. Also, be prepared to be soaked through even though you are wearing wet weather gear.

4. Prepare some conversation topics ahead of time. 20+ hours of walking and then additional time in the evenings spent with the same people and you tend to run outof things to talk about. Things to try might also be playing games where you have to sing songs containing a certain word, etc. But try not to take along a companion who knows too much about music (ahem, Dan).

5. Dehydrated space food is not that good. It's ok and it's light, so that's a plus (for your companions who are carrying the food, anyways). But it's not that good.

6. Use the mile markers as resting points. Especially on the last day when you want to die.

7. Have a mantra. You might find yourself getting tired. And sore. And hungry. It helps to have a mantra to repeat while walking to keep yourself going. A good one is "Carry On, Finish Strong". (Thanks, Dan).

8. Rain is not always a bad thing. The waterfalls that appear out of nowhere with the rain are amazing. You would never know they are there on a sunny day, so one day of rain might actually be desirable (emphasis on ONE).

9. Enjoy meeting new people. You might find that some of them are washed up improv actors that are actually pretty funny and then end up a pub with them on quiz night two days after you are done the track. Good times may ensue.

10. When moral is low, just look around. Remember that you are in an amazing place and that are there and not sitting at a desk in a cubicle. Enjoy.