Routeburn Great Walk - Falls hut to McKenzie Hut

Routeburn Great Walk: 14.81 km in 5h25min

We knew today was going to be wet and miserable... It was wet and miserable.

The rain and the wind were non-stop. The path was a torrent the entire time. It took barely 20min for us to be completely drenched. We also were worried the rain cover of the backpack could flew away ( it did for alexis but I caught it on time to put it back).

Apart from the misery of being cold and wet, there was some good point about hiking in the rain this alpine section of the Routeburn track.

The colours were vivid. A bright green or yellow for the grass and vegetation. Towards the very end, you are through a forest which has every surface covered in moss. That looked like a fairy tale or haunted forest depending on how you look at it. But the colors!!

The rocks were also beautiful. You spend the entire time walking on green jade like stones and rocks. Sometimes there is a vein of red. The water reveals the colours of the rock underneath washing away the dust.

There was some views going up until Harris Saddles as we were protected from the wind. But from Harris saddle until the top of lake McKenzie, it was horrendous visibility. The small highlight from this section was an overhang that made like a shower, a proper waterfall falling on the path ( you are already drenched to your bones by that point ). It looked cool and made us smile.

The descent to lake McKenzie was beautiful there was on the cliff side of the mountain, hundreds of waterfalls feeding the lake. I am sure when it's not raining you don't have as much.

Overall we had many waterfalls along the way. Many waterways was full and turbulent.

When we finally arrived at the hut, you feel almost dazed. Someone has lit a fire and that firewood smell is so heartwarming. You are drenched, trying to figure out by what to start and how to get yourself dry and settled.

The good surprise is that all the precautions we took to keep our stuff dry worked. what a delicious feeling to slip on your dry set of clothing !

We made ourselves a late lunch, we were starving and went for a long nap in the bunk. It was raining cats and dogs outside, we were so lucky. Our rain was bad, but it got worse.

The sun started to shine through the heavy cloud around 6:30pm . Everyone is out by the lake getting some pictures between rain episodes. We do the same.

Tomorrow is going to be sunny again, finger crossed for some good views !