Milford Track for Beginners?

Hi

We (couple in our 20s) are thinking of hiking Milford Track in mid April.
The trouble is, the 2 of us have no hiking experience.
I am reasonably fit (eg. can run 5km in 30 mins) while my partner can prob
do it in a little more time.
Hope to hear advice on the following 2 questions:

1) Can 2 non-experienced hikers survive comfortably on the track? Seems from
Lonely Planet and net research that you do not need any experience.

2) Do we need special physical conditioning for the hike? ie. Can a couple
with normal fitness level (ie. run 5km in 30-50 mins) do the hike?

Really want to do the hike, but am not confident at all, esp when I have no
experience and am not sure if I can take care of my partner if the going
gets too rough...

Hope you can help.
Thanks!

shakefly wrote:

1) Can 2 non-experienced hikers survive comfortably on the track? Seems from
Lonely Planet and net research that you do not need any experience.

In January 1972 I "walked" Dore track as well as Milford track with a group of
others who were from all walks of life. At that time I was about 22 years of ago
and was an insulin-dependent diabetic.
Easy to do - even when I had yo carry my food and everything else. I was hitck
hiking through NZ for about 6 weeks. I had no difficulty at all - and at that
stage of my life was not even into any sort of physical conditioning nor running
- that occurred later in my life ;-)

2) Do we need special physical conditioning for the hike? ie. Can a couple
with normal fitness level (ie. run 5km in 30-50 mins) do the hike?

No, you don't need any conditioning. Unless you are 25 to 50 pounds overweight
you won't have anything but a great experience - IMHO.


Really want to do the hike, but am not confident at all, esp when I have no
experience and am not sure if I can take care of my partner if the going
gets too rough...

The going is not exactly strenuous, but it is sustained. Slow and steady is the
way to go on the tracks. In my opinion, it is worth doing the Dore track and
then starting the Milford from the beginning of the trail head at the lake. I
never did bother with taking the boat to the hea of the Milford track/trail

Ken
Winnipeg, Canada

shakefly wrote:

We (couple in our 20s) are thinking of hiking Milford Track in mid April.
The trouble is, the 2 of us have no hiking experience.
I am reasonably fit (eg. can run 5km in 30 mins) while my partner can prob
do it in a little more time.
Hope to hear advice on the following 2 questions:

1) Can 2 non-experienced hikers survive comfortably on the track? Seems from
Lonely Planet and net research that you do not need any experience.

2) Do we need special physical conditioning for the hike? ie. Can a couple
with normal fitness level (ie. run 5km in 30-50 mins) do the hike?

Really want to do the hike, but am not confident at all, esp when I have no
experience and am not sure if I can take care of my partner if the going
gets too rough...

While you don't need experience, I suggest you do some training. This
should involve walking for several hours with fully laden packs, being sure
to include up and downhill sections. Do this as often as you can before the
trip.

You need good hiking boots. If you don't have them already, buy them and
train in them until they're well broken in. The worst thing you can do is
turn up at the track with brand new boots - you'll get badly blistered.

--
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.

shakefly wrote:

We (couple in our 20s) are thinking of hiking Milford Track in mid April.
The trouble is, the 2 of us have no hiking experience.
I am reasonably fit (eg. can run 5km in 30 mins) while my partner can prob
do it in a little more time.
Hope to hear advice on the following 2 questions:

1) Can 2 non-experienced hikers survive comfortably on the track? Seems from
Lonely Planet and net research that you do not need any experience.

2) Do we need special physical conditioning for the hike? ie. Can a couple
with normal fitness level (ie. run 5km in 30-50 mins) do the hike?

Really want to do the hike, but am not confident at all, esp when I have no
experience and am not sure if I can take care of my partner if the going
gets too rough...

While you don't need experience, I suggest you do some training. This
should involve walking for several hours with fully laden packs, being sure
to include up and downhill sections. Do this as often as you can before the
trip.

You need good hiking boots. If you don't have them already, buy them and
train in them until they're well broken in. The worst thing you can do is
turn up at the track with brand new boots - you'll get badly blistered.

--
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.

shakefly wrote:
1) Can 2 non-experienced hikers survive comfortably on the track?
Seems from
Lonely Planet and net research that you do not need any experience.

Greetings!
We just got off the Milford track 1 month ago (back at work now and I
have large tears running down my cheek as I type this). We are in our
50s and do extensive hiking and backpacking and found it to be a
moderately easy; it certainly isn't a difficult hike. NZ DOC lists the
trek as "easy". That
said, there were plenty of blisters and various muscle and joint
complaints from every age group in our 'batch' of hikers. As far as
training goes I think the suggestion about 'sustained walking with full
packs' is a good one. I think the longest one-day distance was 11.5
miles on the last day and there weren't any dramatic changes in
elevation that day. McKinnon pass will be the most challenging for
sustained uphill climbing but most of the complaints that I heard were
about the long stretch downhill from the pass, not the uphill part.

How prepared are you with respect to gear, and do you know what to
take? I would also suggest you increase what ever amount of food you
thought you were going to need. I always carry more food than I need
and I wound up bailing out a single woman and a couple from Hong Kong
that had dramatically underestimated the amount of food they were going
to use.

Enjoy your trip!

I am saddened by the fact that my trip is fading off into distant
history - time to start planning for the next one I guess.
Cheers,


KFW

shakefly wrote:
1) Can 2 non-experienced hikers survive comfortably on the track?
Seems from
Lonely Planet and net research that you do not need any experience.

Greetings!
We just got off the Milford track 1 month ago (back at work now and I
have large tears running down my cheek as I type this). We are in our
50s and do extensive hiking and backpacking and found it to be a
moderately easy; it certainly isn't a difficult hike. NZ DOC lists the
trek as "easy". That
said, there were plenty of blisters and various muscle and joint
complaints from every age group in our 'batch' of hikers. As far as
training goes I think the suggestion about 'sustained walking with full
packs' is a good one. I think the longest one-day distance was 11.5
miles on the last day and there weren't any dramatic changes in
elevation that day. McKinnon pass will be the most challenging for
sustained uphill climbing but most of the complaints that I heard were
about the long stretch downhill from the pass, not the uphill part.

How prepared are you with respect to gear, and do you know what to
take? I would also suggest you increase what ever amount of food you
thought you were going to need. I always carry more food than I need
and I wound up bailing out a single woman and a couple from Hong Kong
that had dramatically underestimated the amount of food they were going
to use.

Enjoy your trip!

I am saddened by the fact that my trip is fading off into distant
history - time to start planning for the next one I guess.
Cheers,


KFW