In the end, there can be only one.

This was my last day on the Milford track. Everyone had to get an early start in the morning since we still had a fairly considerable distance to cover in order to meet the pick-up boat at 2pm. The day was beautiful and the fresh rain had made the waterfalls quite lively. The folks that had the cotton equipment ended up sleeping near the stove (though also near all the boots and other gear people had spread out to dry) and borrowed a blanket from the hut warden. The morning mist made things especially nice for the long walk ahead (approximately 5-6 hours from the hut). There were quite a few great views along the way including a stop at Mackay Falls and Bell Rock, which was a rock that had been hollowed out by waterfall action that was eventually dislodged and landed such that it was shaped like a bell inside, and Giant Gate Falls. From there it was another four hours before we got to Sandfly Point and the end of the track at Milford Sound. this marks the terminal end of the 33.5 mile trail started three days earlier. Even with the driving rain yesterday, I had a stupendous time and was excited about the coming weeks. Though I wish it was a little less developed of a trail so that there wouldn't be quite as much traffic, I probably would not have known of this trail had it not been so many reports lauding the virtues of the experience. The boat arrived right on time and once we were loaded, we had a nice ride into the docks.

Once back to civilization, I hiked a bit more to get to the hostel in which I had my reservations and found that the bag I had sent a few days earlier was waiting for me in the luggage closet. The best feature of the hostel was a dedicated, heated, and dehumidified drying room where I could hang all of my wet clothes, boats, and other gear and do my first load of laundry in several weeks. It didn't take long for sleep to come soon after dinner as I had to prepare for another early start the next morning.