“On a Mish” #429 Dog Friendly (Part One). Boyd Creek Tops Track. Snowdon Forest / Countess Range. 19.1.2025. The township of Te Anau provides so much beauty if you want you can stay within its confines and still get views of Fiordland along with the mighty lake itself. For those of us who live here with their four-legged friends this is as close as we can get due to Fiordland National Park having a strict ‘No Dogs’ policy. For a long time, I thought the closest place for Georgie and I to go on a mish was around an hour or so drive away at the Mavora Lakes. However, some research of the surrounding area led me to a location near the edge of New Zealand’s largest national park and to the start of the dog friendly Boyd Creek Track…
A while back I hiked up to the top of the Boyd Creek Tops Track with my girlfriend at the time, and I will always remember the stunning views of the hills the surround that section of the Milford Road. On that mish we had a mix of mist and ariel machine as a helicopter came zooming past our campsite in search of a trophy to take home. Luckily, we didn’t catch any stray bullets, but the sounds of gunshots close by made for an interesting start to the day!
After visiting the place back in 2017 I haven’t returned due to it being surrounded by so much other epicness and the constant need to explore new territory and of course my hip and back injury. I had always wanted more and after recently finding out the area was dog friendly; I have been back twice within a couple of days. First was a scouting mish and body test, and second was to spend a night out under the stars with Georgie and my tent. Already I can tell we will be back many more times in the future.
After working out that the track was dog friendly, I loaded up a very excited dog into the back of my car and in the hot afternoon sun we took the thirty-minute drive to the edge of Fiordland National Park near the bottom end of the Eglinton Valley. I wasn’t sure how far I’d get as I knew the track was rough in places and climbed up into the forests of the Countess Range.
After getting Georgie ready with her leash, I locked up my car and began the trek up the track with the hope I’d get to a clearing around halfway between the car park and the open tops. The air was still, and the sun was hot as we wandered passed the Boyd Creek Loop Track and onto the Boyd Creek Tops Track. Even after many years I remembered the area well and was kind of kicking myself for not discovering this place sooner.
Mid undulation took us out of scrub and bush and into an open beech forest before the real climb began. By the time the climb began I had already built up a sweat, but any thoughts of stopping were prevented by having a very keen hound attached to my waist. The sights and smells of the new location had Georgie’s senses on high alert, and she was powering on ahead with me doing my best to keep up with her speed.
About halfway up to the clearing I started to feel the unmistakable feeling of soreness and shadows of doubt began to sneak into the recesses of my mind. Thoughts of ‘This isn’t where someone with a bad hip should be’ weren’t helping my motivation to keep going, but luckily, I was in a dog friendly location with a friendly dog doing everything she could to keep the show on the road. Eventually I found a semi-comfortable rhythm and with each shuffle step I got closer to my goal of the clearing halfway up the Boyd Creek Tops Track…
