On a less rainy weekend this past winter, I decided to leave hibernation and escape to the North Coast. The North Coast is a wild, beautiful and much less popular destination than Big Sur, south of the Bay Area. Enormous coastal redwoods call the North Coast home. The area is filled with logging history and relics of that era, including the Skunk Train. A few years ago, we got to take the Skunk Train to Camp Noyo. This time around, we decided to take the Skunk Train Rail Bikes out for a spin.
Backpacking the Milford Track in New Zealand is something I’ve wanted to do for years, basically since my last New Zealand trip. It’s touted as one of the best trails in the whole world. If that isn’t a must-do selling point, I don’t know what is.
Read on for all the details like getting a permit to things to bring for backpacking the Milford Track.
Our last day on the Milford Track, we woke up to steady rain on the roof of the Dumpling Hut. It was gonna be a long, wet 11.2 miles on the trail to Milford Sound.
After two days at Mintaro Hut, I was feeling antsy and ready to hit the trail. We woke up bright and early to wait for the Go Ahead from our hut ranger. Today, we’d be hiking Mackinnon Pass to Dumpling Hut. Even better, the weather showed no rain in the forecast.
On our second day on the Milford Track, we woke to the promise of sunshine at Clinton Hut. We packed our things to head to Mintaro Hut. It was still dry out. Perhaps the threat of rain was simply just a threat.