Kepler Track Completed

So yesterday I knocked out another track here in New Zealand: The Kepler Track.

The experience was much different than that of the Stewart Island Track. There was no mud, and over 6 miles of alpine ridge walking. The views reminded me a lot of Fraconia Ridge on the AT or Indian Trail Ridge on the CT. They were stunning. The trail itself is a "Great Walk" which means it was pretty busy with people, and that it was extremely well maintained and graded. I never needed my trekking poles on the entire trail. I'm still hiking with Elizabeth and it's still going great. We had a very similar itinerary for trails we wanted to do, and since I had a car, we decided to hit some of the same ones and split fuel costs. We are planning on knocking out one more track: The Wilkin-Young Circuit before I had back to Christchurch and back to the States. She still has a few weeks here and will probably do a few more long distance tracks before she flies home. As nice as it was to be able to do some solo hiking when I first got here, it is certainly a breath of fresh air to have a hiking partner.

As soon as I get home I will start uploading all of my photos from both Antarctica and from NZ.

Less than a week to go....

-john