May 30th, 2007 
Sheila Simkin Glade House was a warm, homey place and some people started out to explore a little before dinner and the all-important briefing and introductions. Because the Track had strict age requirements, we were surprised to see one man with three small children. (He had lied about their ages…more about those consequences later.) Everyone signed the guestbook and our group was Tour #34 of this season. There would be a lead guide and shepherd guide, everyone was welcome to walk at your own pace and we were ready.
After a wonderful breakfast with eggs, bacon, etc., all the trekkers made their own packed lunch, stowed belongings in our rucksack/backpack and it was out on the trail in a light rain. Over the first of many suspension/swinging bridges. ex-Marine is terrified of them and it was here that he honed the “ex-Marine method of crossing a swinging bridge.” The method: hold up the entire line of people waiting to cross until the coast is clear with no extra weight to make the bridge really swing; hightail it across as quickly as possible; hold your breath; count your footsteps; and don’t look down! Hey…it worked for him!
Walking along the Clinton River, with a wide, flat trail for the first few miles, I’m leaping over small puddles, trying to keep my boots dry. Another important fact is that this terrain is volcanic and we all know that volcanic soil doesn’t absorb rain well…don’t we? I didn’t but learned fast. The rain was spewing off the cliffs creating the much-touted waterfalls that are only visible in heavy rains. Lucky us…or so we thought.
The puddles started getting deeper, spreading across the entire trail, the rain heavier, and it was time for a lunch stop at the Hirere Falls shelter. While siting there, the lead guide received a message on his walkie-talkie from Pompolona Lodge that there had been an avalanche along the trail and the group moving from Pompolona to Quintin Lodge had to return to Pompolona for the night. That meant WE had to return to Glade House.
Back down the trail in the downpour and by the time we reached the Clinton River, there was no trail in sight. The water had overflown the river banks and was up to my armpits. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING! This was frightening and the man with his small children had all he could do to keep these little kids from being washed away downriver. ex-Marine carried one on his back along wih his backpack, and others pitched in. Meanwhile, I managed to trip and fall over a submerged log and now every single part of my body was sopping wet, raincoat or no raincoat.
No one knew where the trail was because the waist-high (armpit high on me) river had completely obliterated it…and finally, we heard a “hello” and noise in the distance. The Manager of Glade House had come out to string ropes from tree-to-tree to lead us back safely. In all the few years guided treks on the Milford Track, this was only the first one that people had to return back to Glade House. And because of this, the next group heading in to start the Track was completely cancelled will no possibility of rebooking for the next two months.
Grateful to be safe, each Milford Tracker ran to the drying room, hanging every single article of wet clothes and placing boots strategically in front of these huge blowers. The rest of the evening was spent, going back and forth to the drying room, rotating the clothes, trying to dry everything out. Anyone hiker/trekker worth their salt knows that boots will crack if heated quickly or are placed by intense heat…who cared! There were puddles inside my boots and I prefered cracked boots to slogging along in inches of water. Stupid me also discovered that my little camera sitting in the rain jacket pocket was floating in a puddle of water.
Goodbye camera….but I wasn’t going to give up hope yet…I hung it by a clothespin in the drying room…trying to resusitate it.
Now this is what I call – and didn’t expect – Adventure to the max!
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