The Keppler Trek

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April 5th 2007

Published: April 5th 2007

Top of the mountain It had been a while since i went trekking so when the Danish lads said they wanted to do one i was only to glad to tag along especially in the land of Hobbits, Elves and Orcs (well im hardly not gonna have any mention of that film when im in new zealand am i???). Its was a 50km trekk with 2 nights spent in "lodges".
We set off on the track a bit late, around midday with a 16 km trekk and a 1200 meter climb ahead of us. The first hour and half were fine and everyone was in a chirpy mood as the scenery was great and the trekk easy so far. We were making good time when the climbing started. It got tough.....really bloody tough after about 3 hours the path was at a 90 degree angle...well it felt like that with the heavy backpack on my back.......i thought my lungs would explode and they probably would have only for we turned the finaly corner on the mountain and sunddenly we were above the tree tops looking around at the amazing scenery. You could see for miles in every direction and it made the torturous climb

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli chasing down the Oarks

worth it. Shortly afterwards we arrived at the lodge, pegged the bags(gladly) in the door and headed off to some caves nearby. These caves headed deep into the mountains and we went about 200 meters down them which was good fun. The lodge itself had about 20 other trekkers in it and a warm kitchen but had no heating in the dorms and was the same temperature as the outside which was bloody freezing after dark. This was my first night sleeping in the same room as the danes and maybe it was the tough climb and we were all exhausted but those boys know how to snore i tell ya. I was ground shanking stuff which made a few people actually leave the rooms!!! I spent most of the night kicking and punching one or the other but to little effect so didnt get much kip.
The next day was probably the best day. Again we were last almost to leave the lodge i think the others left before sunrise in disgust! Most of the 18km trek was spent walking across mountain tops was spectacular views. There were some tough climbs also but nothing like the first day. At

Keppler Trek

the top of one of the mountains we came accross some parrots who were very friendly indeed and not afraid to come right up to us. After passing the dead pools we started a long descent which is almost as tough as the climbing on the knees especially through fangorn forest until we arrived at the 2nd lodge. The forests here were very old with green moss everywhere on the trees making it look very eerie indeed. The ear plugs were wedged well into the ears that night i tell ya!
Day 3 saw us complete the trek. There were 3 tough steep climbs but the rest was flat which was a relief. The trek really was amazing and the views easily numbed the pains in our joints. The 3 days were great fun with the landscape and terrain changing every 4 or 5 kilometers. Also i got plenty of exercise and sweat out a couple of barrels of beer while doing it too which was a bonus!!

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