“On a Mish” #26 The Lake with My Last Name (Part Three). Valley of the Trolls / Lake Wilson. Mt Aspiring National Park. 21.4.2012. To visit your workplace on your day off for pleasure is saying something about where you work. On many occasions while working for Ultimate Hikes on the Routeburn Track I have ventured back to the area in my spare time to check out some of the sights beyond the gravel of the well walked path. After finding out there was a lake with my last name, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I paid this very well named lake a visit…
One of the most memorable spots I have visited in the wild parts of Aotearoa is the Valley of the Trolls and the lake above with my last name. I ended up guiding the track 124 times and never grew tired of the view of the waterfall toppling down from the lake into the remote Valley of the Trolls. It took a couple of years, but now I was in the valley and soon I would scramble my way up to the lake.
The route up beside the waterfall that drains the lake looks steep and daunting from the Routeburn Track but isn’t as steep as it looks when standing at its base. The gulley beside the falls provides direct access up to Lake Wilson. A natural path of sorts.
The low cloud from the day before still remained but this gave the place a feeling like we were in an enormous hall with the cloud acting as the roof. Even though we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains we were pumped for an epic mish to the lake with my last name.
After a quick breakfast we readied ourselves for adventure and set off. We climbed and then crested the gut up beside the waterfall before finally laying eyes on the lake. It looked awesome from the summit of Xenicus but even better when standing on its shores. We took our time soaking in the atmosphere, and at one stage Jules went over to the other side of the lake. Seeing her as a tiny dot standing below the big peaks gave me an incredible perspective of the huge size of the place. We would have loved to have stayed longer, but like so many places in the mountains, we reluctantly had to say goodbye and head back to reality.
Our stroll back to the Routeburn Track provided a good dose of alpine splendour before the wander back down into the beech forests of Routeburn Flats and the Routeburn Valley. We were now on very easy terrain, and it was a trek of refection as we made our way back to my car at the Routeburn Shelter. The reality of the epicness of where we had been set in as we began to make our way back to civilisation. I am forever grateful to my friend Jules for kicking my motivation into life to visit the valley of the Routeburn Track Trolls, and the lake with my last name…
