“On a Mish” #260 The Road Less Travelled. Grebe Valley / Percy Valley (Borland Road). Fiordland. 10.4.2017. For all its twists and turns the Borland Road has so much to offer. Adventures can range from easy walking to hard hiking, walk up peaks with tracks, to difficult mountaineering / rock climbing. The road offers great contrast between the more open eastside (Borland side), then dense bush on the westside (Grebe)…
There is a fantastic road cut into the area, and this travels all the way from the power station in Manapouri, over the Borland Saddle(990m), then to Bluff in the very far south. Because the road has been cut into Fiordland in places, you can access areas that would otherwise be very difficult to get to. I usually spend my time on the eastside of the Borland Saddle(990m), but on this occasion I decided to head west and see what the Percy Valley was like with my girlfriend at the time.
Like most trips to the area, I started with a camp up on Borland Saddle, and from there I watched the sun disappear, and I knew it wasn’t going to make an appearance for at least the next couple of days.
The peaceful night was interrupted by the pita pata of rain on our car’s roof, and by morning the rain had spread throughout the area. Early-ish the next day we were up and on the move, driving towards the Percy Valley with rain now soaking the beech forest on the western side of the saddle. Before hiking the trail into the Percy Burn Valley we drove down to the South Arm of Lake Manapouri. It was here where our time viewing / taking photos of the lake was cut short by a massive swarm of hungry sandflies. We said goodbye to the sandflies at the lake and drove back up the road to the locked gate at the Grebe River Bridge.
The first section of the hike was in the shelter of the forest, and this made for an enjoyable stroll through a stunning part of remote Fiordland. Because you are following a wide and well constructed road, you can look around while you walk instead of always looking at your feet. The hiking was very easy and the views were incredible, so far so good.
On some maps there is a shelter marked about an hour or so up the valley. If this shelter does exist then it is in a very hidden spot! Using my GPS I knew we were in the location of the shelter on the map, but there was no sign of it. This changed the plans, as we had hoped to have lunch out of the rain. The hut’s location / existence still remains a mystery to us still to this day.
finding the shelter / hut was far from the end of the world, so we continued along the road towards Percy Saddle as the rain began to increase in intensity. After a couple of hours hiking up the valley we decided we had seen enough and turned back in the direction of the Borland Road and our car.
The valley was a great place to explore even if it was raining. The steep peaks that line the valley close in around you, and even in the rain the giant cliffs looked awesome with storm clouds swirling about them. In true Fiordland fashion it began to clear on the east drive back over Borland Saddle. We weren’t bothered as we had seen a lot and also ventured up the road less travelled. Next time, hopefully we get to see the place wrapped in sunshine, but with that said Fiordland in any weather is ALWAYS AWESOME!!!
