With little more than sturdy boots and her trusty camera, photographer Melissa Renwick set out to soak up the blissful solitude and breathtaking vistas on a remote alpine trail in southern New Zealand.
The Routeburn Track, on New Zealand’s South Island, weaves through meadows, around mountain tarns and over alpine scrubland with views of soaring peaks and vast river valleys, partly following a historic Maori route to the west coast. Maori also came to the area to source pounamu, or greestone, a culturally significant mineral found only in the South Island that is carved into traditional symbols which carry special meaning for their bearers. The 20.5-mile Routeburn Track – one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, a set of 10 epic hiking trails spread across the two mail islands – winds through all this and links two national parks in a rugged and remote section of the Southern Alps; the road distance between the north and south ends of the trail is about 200 miles. This mix of seclusion and history drew photographer Melissa Renwick to this solo trek while in New Zealand earlier this year.
Melissa set out keen to experience the adventure on her own terms. “I’ve traveled alone a lot, and I’m confortable in the wilderness,” she says. “I liked being able to go at my owm pace, especially as a photopgrapher – I was stopping and starting, spending time in specific places without feeling rushed.” Melissa spent three days walking from south to north, the same direction as the Routeburn River. “You’re following that water flow the whole way, and it’s so energizing when you’re walking alongside a river,” she says. The only living creature you’re likely to see on the track is another human – about 13,000 “tramp” through each year or a native bird like the mischievous (and endangered) kea, the world’s only alpine parrot. “They’ll shred your gear if you’re not careful,” Melissa says.
The walk takes from two to four days to complete, and the New Zealand Department of Conservation maintains two campsites and three huts along the route where hikers can overnight. Bookings for the huts and campsites fill up within days of reservations opening each July (high season on the Routeburn Track is November 1 to April 30). “What’s special about the huts is that you’re meeting people from all tover the world,” Melissa says. “It’s an intimate experience with everyone cooking food and drying their clothes and sharing where else they’ve been in New Zealand.” Every evening in the huts is capped by a conservation talk from a hut warden like Clive Rule, who’s been stationed at the Lake Mackenzie Hut for more than 30 years. “The wardens are so knowledgeable, you can ask them anything,” Melissa says. “And Clive had the whole hut cracking up.”
The wet weather was no issue for Melissa, who lives in the rainforest in Tofino, British Columbia. In fact, the cloudy skies provided soft light with fewer harsh shadows – perfect for making photographs. And Melissa found hiking the Routeburn Track to be an approachable way to see the New Zealand wilderness, one that would appeal even to someone who is intimidated by the outdoors or high mountains. “For those three days I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing. And once I finished, I ate fish and chips at the Glenorchy Hotel with some people I met on the hike, and I felt so satisfied,” she says. “For me, it was all about the journey, and the peaks and valleys experienced along the way”.