“On a Mish” #124 A Good Mistake (Part Two). Mistake Creek (U-Pass Basin). Fiordland National Park. 1.5.2015. If prepared for the cold, then waking up in an area that has been hit by a severe frost is an epic and sparkly way to start your day. The twinkle of ice can be very mesmerising and always makes for excellent photos. It was no mistake that we had got ourselves to such an incredible location, and we were having an awesome time while tackling a very good mistake…
It was only mid-afternoon, and our camp was set up and ready. Because we had so free time to fill in the afternoon we continued further up the valley towards the remains of the once mighty Mistake Creek Glacier. With one look around it was obvious that this was a good mistake, and we were stoked to be part of it.
With the remaining daylight we wandered up to the head of the valley and the remains of the once mighty block of ice. Once at the top of the valley the view back down was amazing. We could see down the entire length of Mistake Creek all the way to the Eglinton Valley and the Livingstone Mountains behind that. After our afternoon / evening outing we returned to camp and after dinner retreated to the warmth of our sleeping bags.
The edge of the creek was lined with icicles and our tent had a white fuzz of frozen water particles, which were covering both the outside and some of the inside of the tent! It was tough to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag, however the enticing scenery soon dragged me out into the new day. With the crisp of early winter in the air and clear skies above, we were in for an excellent day in the mountains.
An early-ish start was needed to cover the distance and steep ground up into the U-Pass Basin, and then back down again to our camp in Mistake Creek. The way into the U-Pass Basin isn’t a straightforward track. To be honest there isn’t really a track up around the barrier, which is a cascading waterfall, so you need to make you way up and around it as best you can. The climb up the true right of the waterfall had its moments of exposed scrambling but as it turned out it wasn’t as difficult as it first appeared. Oh, and the reward of the upper basin and all its alpine splendour made it worth the extra effort over the tricky section of the mish.
After overcoming the waterfall, we finally reached the upper basin, and it was time to regather our thoughts. A brief water break gave us some moments to look around and take in what is one of the grandest places I have ever been. The only downside it the fact that the old U-Pass Glacier is nearly gone. It would have been very impressive to see the area when the glacier was in it’s prime. I guess it is a good sign of the warming of the earth and the mistakes made by mankind.
As it was only mid-day, we decided to have a look around the area and really take in the remoteness. The name ‘Mistake Creek’ can give the impression that something might have gone wrong, but for us at least this was a good mistake to be involved in and we were loving every second of it…
