Last week we hiked the Queen Charlotte Track for the third time. Including a rest day we took five days to walk 72 kilometers along a well-engineered and maintained trail.
This was a walk in the park, especially as our backpacks were transported ahead of us by boat.
We took a boat to the start of the trail at Meretoto/Ship Cove. Captain James Cook anchored here in 1770, and spent a total of 170 days in the area over four visits. We would walk a few miles to our home for the next two nights, Furneaux Lodge.
Our boat was well-supplied with multiple beer kegs and other provisions that would be delivered to Furneaux Lodge, along with our backpacks. This would be a cushy hike.
The walking was lovely, but rain on the first day meant I kept my point-and-shoot in my pocket. Even when the weather meets some definition of perfect, my camera interferes with being in the moment and tends to disappoint as I can’t catch the beauty I see. I didn’t need to take pictures.
At Furneaux Lodge we had a full rest day. We got a chance to nap, enjoy good, local food, and some of the beer we saw in the boat at the start of our journey.
After two nights at Furneaux Lodge, we walked to the next lodge, Punga Cove.
The last two days took us along a ridge separating Kenepuru Sound and Queen Charlotte Sound. Sometimes we saw Kenepuru, sometimes Queen Charlotte, sometimes both.
We. were presented with dramatic scenes of rain coming towards us, then continuing across the sounds.
The last day of hiking was dry.
At the end of the hike, a boat picked us up and took us back to the town of Picton where we had started out a few days earlier. I hesitate to say we finished the hike, although we did walk to the end. “Finish” implies some sort of conquest, an activity that can now be crossed off a list. We plan to come back.