Most beautiful treks in the world

Routeburn Track – New Zealand

On a transparent day in Fiordland you'll see for kilometres. Unfortunately, this is often not a transparent day in Fiordland. actually there's such a lot rain falling I'm starting to wonder if Fiordland even has clear days.

Judging from this hike on the Routeburn Track – and another I took, years ago, on the Milford Track – I'm beginning to suspect not. What it does have may be a batch of the way to experience moisture in its many forms.

Over the course of 4 days, i'm rained upon, I rehearse mist and low-lying cloud, I become drenched my very own sweat, i'm lightly sprayed with mist from waterfalls, i'm dusted in snowflakes, and – having briefly taken leave of my senses – i'm immersed within the icy-cold waters of a lake 1000 metres above water level . (For the record, I'm within the water for all of a moment , after which it takes me three hours to completely warm up. But i might roll in the hay again during a heartbeat because it had been awesome.)However many words the Inuit have for snow, the inhabitants of the south-western corner of latest Zealand should properly have almost as many for rain. The Routeburn runs through the Hollyford Valley, which gets a mean of 4 metres (4000 millimetres) of rain a year.

I'm not complaining, mind. this is often a number of the foremost beautiful countryside I even have ever had the enjoyment to steer through. There are rivers, waterfalls, lakes and forests dripping with moisture and moss everywhere you look. Besides, it isn't as if we weren't warned.

On all the websites, trampers are told to be prepared for "at least at some point of rain" and to pack appropriate gear. within the DOC (Department of Conservation) offices in Queenstown they need photos of the tracks before rain and after rain; within the before shots, trampers are walking on well-marked paths; within the after shots, they're wading in waist-deep water.

And yet … if you search the photographs of either one among these Great Walks online you will see shot after shot of stunning vistas, all of them with blue skies. I'm sorry, but there is no filter I could use on my iPhone to get such snaps, and i am here in March, one among the drier months.