Kepler Track -- The Lowlands

This is the view John and I got coming out of the trees. This clearing was caused by a giant mudslide in very heavy rains in 1984. There is a giant scar on the mountain to the left, out of the picture. The waterfall you see cascades out of a valley between two peaks and falls a good 300 feet to the rocks again. It is another 75 feet until the mountain rises vertically out of the ground. The mountains of the Fiordlands are pretty short, the highest in this area being just over 6200 feet, but they are relatively young and are still rising. They are composed of very hard rock and thus rise vertically for thousands of feet, unlike softer mountains that form gradual slopes. The highest point we reached was 5800 feet. The first 1200 feet were hiked in the first day, over 6 hours into the park. The next 4600 were hiked as the trail followed the most gradual slope around as it rose from the valley floor. For 4600 feet up, we hiked about 3000 feet in. Pretty fucking steep for the most gradual slope around.


Because the pass was impassable due to avalanche danger, we had to hike in and out along the same path. No complaints here though.