Glenorchy and Lake Face Falls
Apr. 25th, 2024 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerOn Tuesday (two weeks ago) on New Zealand's South Island we drove out from Queenstown to make what we could of the rainy day. Our plan had been to hike a mountainous trail but the weather boded against that. Still, we hiked a few miles around Bob's Cove in drizzling rain the whole time.
Further around the shores of the Lake Wakatipu we spotted on our maps a trail to Lake Face Falls. It was raining more heavily when we reached the trailhead so we decided to continue on (driving) and try again on the way back.
We reached the small town of Glenorchy at the end of the road. We figured we'd get lunch there. We figured if it was big enough to earn a dot on the map it'd have restaurants, right? Haha. It's such a small town that it has one general store that's basically everything: coffee shop, lunch counter, grocery, gift shop, and outdoor clothing store. Well, we were successful at getting lunch there. And we bought a memento, a hand-knotted wool sheep pillow. And we shopped outdoors clothes. Hawk and I were interested in better rain jackets but didn't find anything in our size/price range. Hawk did buy a wide-brimmed hat to help keep the rain off her face. (I already had one, which is how she got the idea to buy one.)
We drove out to a park at the foot of Lake Wakatipu to see if the rain would pass, but it didn't. What would we have done if it was clearer? Well, just north of Glenorchy is an interesting glacial valley. There's a mountain in the middle of the valley. Basically a glacier split around a small mountain and rejoined on the other side. It was the subject of many of the prints and art at the general store and makes a great view— when you can see it.
As we headed back toward home we stopped again at Lake Face Falls. It was still raining, but we decided to hike it anyway. It was a matter of "Do it in the rain or don't do it at all."
One upside of the rain today is that the falls were full. They looked very compelling to visit. Plus, the rain wasn't that bad. Until it started raining harder. 😂
Oh, but don't let the telephoto picture above fool you. It's easy to focus on the falls, but they're also kind of far away. Here's another photo from as we crossed the road to begin the trail:
The trail led uphill through tall grass and bushes. The trail was wildly overgrown, as we were warned by postings on hiker social media sites. We weren't too worried as we were wearing long pants and long sleeves anyway. But pushing through the brush and tall grass amplified how wet we got. Within minutes our clothes were drenched. And then the trail got even more overgrown.
The trail went from "cuts through tall grass and bushes" to "Duck under this thicket to follow the trail." We could tell we were close, and reasoned "In for a penny, in for a pound."
On the other side of the thicket we broke out onto a view of the lowest part of the falls.
These lower falls are a nice view. We could barely make out the bottom of the big falls in the distance up the ravine. We could not see the tall part of the falls at all.
From here a narrow footpath continues up the ravine. It's fairly steep, though, and with all today's rain quite slippery. Hawk decided to wait at the bottom while I scouted ahead to see how passable it was and if it yielded more views. I never got to the views as the trail was too slippery with mud on steep hillsides. We turned around and headed back toward the car.
Once at the car we changed out of our soaked clothes as much as we could. Some of the quick-drying materials aired out nicely by the time we got back to the hotel. Everything else we spread out across the suite's ample space to dry as we headed over to the hotel's pool area for a soak in the hot tub. Yes, we were already soaked, but this would be a pleasantly warm soak!
Further around the shores of the Lake Wakatipu we spotted on our maps a trail to Lake Face Falls. It was raining more heavily when we reached the trailhead so we decided to continue on (driving) and try again on the way back.
We reached the small town of Glenorchy at the end of the road. We figured we'd get lunch there. We figured if it was big enough to earn a dot on the map it'd have restaurants, right? Haha. It's such a small town that it has one general store that's basically everything: coffee shop, lunch counter, grocery, gift shop, and outdoor clothing store. Well, we were successful at getting lunch there. And we bought a memento, a hand-knotted wool sheep pillow. And we shopped outdoors clothes. Hawk and I were interested in better rain jackets but didn't find anything in our size/price range. Hawk did buy a wide-brimmed hat to help keep the rain off her face. (I already had one, which is how she got the idea to buy one.)
We drove out to a park at the foot of Lake Wakatipu to see if the rain would pass, but it didn't. What would we have done if it was clearer? Well, just north of Glenorchy is an interesting glacial valley. There's a mountain in the middle of the valley. Basically a glacier split around a small mountain and rejoined on the other side. It was the subject of many of the prints and art at the general store and makes a great view— when you can see it.
As we headed back toward home we stopped again at Lake Face Falls. It was still raining, but we decided to hike it anyway. It was a matter of "Do it in the rain or don't do it at all."
One upside of the rain today is that the falls were full. They looked very compelling to visit. Plus, the rain wasn't that bad. Until it started raining harder. 😂
Oh, but don't let the telephoto picture above fool you. It's easy to focus on the falls, but they're also kind of far away. Here's another photo from as we crossed the road to begin the trail:
The trail led uphill through tall grass and bushes. The trail was wildly overgrown, as we were warned by postings on hiker social media sites. We weren't too worried as we were wearing long pants and long sleeves anyway. But pushing through the brush and tall grass amplified how wet we got. Within minutes our clothes were drenched. And then the trail got even more overgrown.
The trail went from "cuts through tall grass and bushes" to "Duck under this thicket to follow the trail." We could tell we were close, and reasoned "In for a penny, in for a pound."
On the other side of the thicket we broke out onto a view of the lowest part of the falls.
These lower falls are a nice view. We could barely make out the bottom of the big falls in the distance up the ravine. We could not see the tall part of the falls at all.
From here a narrow footpath continues up the ravine. It's fairly steep, though, and with all today's rain quite slippery. Hawk decided to wait at the bottom while I scouted ahead to see how passable it was and if it yielded more views. I never got to the views as the trail was too slippery with mud on steep hillsides. We turned around and headed back toward the car.
Once at the car we changed out of our soaked clothes as much as we could. Some of the quick-drying materials aired out nicely by the time we got back to the hotel. Everything else we spread out across the suite's ample space to dry as we headed over to the hotel's pool area for a soak in the hot tub. Yes, we were already soaked, but this would be a pleasantly warm soak!
