Mount Luxmore

The Kepler Track is one of the official Great Walks in New Zealand.

This is a circular track that starts and ends at the Kepler track car park, located 5 kilometres south of Te Anau.
The car park is quite ample and can accommodate many cars. There is also a toilet available. You are going to find toilets at every hut and shelter on the track so there is a toilet every 7 or 8 kilometres.
The whole track is 61.2 kilometres usually walked counter-clockwise but many people also walk it clockwise depending on huts availability.

The first thing is to decide how many days you want to spend on the track. DOC recommends 3 or 4 days and that's why there are three huts:

1. Luxmore hut at Km 12.5 from start


2. Iris Burn hut at Km 28 from start, visiting Luxmore caves and summiting Mount Luxmore (1472 m)


3. Moturau hut at Km 46 from start

The distances between huts are:

• 12.5 Km from start to Luxmore hut
  


• 15.5 Km from Luxmore hut to Iris Burn hut (Including visiting Luxmore caves and summiting Mount Luxmore)


• 18 Km from Iris Burn hut to Moturau hut
  


• 15.2 Km from Moturau hut to the end of the track

Four days sounds like too much for me but any other combination reducing the number of days leave at least one day with nearly 30 Km or more. Going straight from start to Iris Burn hut is "only" 28 km and includes all the climb and descent from the alpine section.

In the end I decided to do it in two days, sleeping at Iris Burn hut. This left two long days, 28 Km + 33.2 Km, but at the same time made it much easier the hut booking.

I will describe the route splitting it into the four sections going from hut to hut:

1. From start to Luxmore hut:
   Right after you start walking you find the Control Gates for the dam that releases the water from the Te Anau lake into the Waiau river.
   As soon as you cross the Control Gates you find the split to decide the direction you want to walk the track, straight to do it counterclockwise or left to go clockwise. We continue straight and after walking inside the forest and next to Te Anau lake for about 2 kilometres we get to Doc bay. 3 kilometres further on this track and you get to Broad Bay where you will find a shelter, a campsite and the first toilet. Some people decide to take a water taxi from Te Anau and start the track from here.
   So far has been all flat but from this point onwards we start the 7 kilometres of ascent to Luxmore hut, with almost +900 meters of elevation gain. This represents the hardest ascent of the whole track.
   After about 4 Km on the ascent you will encounter a difficult rocky section. Fortunately wooden bridges and ladders make it easy to get through.
   About 1.3 Km further on the track you will get to the end of the forest where the terrain gets almost flat. After another 2 Kilometres, or 45 minutes according to the DOC signpost, you will get to the Luxmore hut.

   A few metres before arriving at Luxmore hut there is a signpost indicating 10 minutes to Luxmore caves. I decided to take this detour from the main track to visit the caves and once I got in I got quite disappointed. I walked down the cave for a few minutes but it didn't look like going anywhere. Some weeks later when talking to a friend he told me the caves go down for quite a while. He walked inside the cave for 30 minutes and said the cave kept going on but he decided to get out. I don't know how narrow the cave is but maybe I have to give it a try some other time. I also need to remember to bring a better headlight and an additional one too.
   



2. From Luxmore hut to Iris Burn hut:
   There are a bit under 4 Km of steep terrain from Luxmore hut to the top of Mount Luxmore, at 1472 metres the highest point of the whole track. It is not mandatory to go up this summit but it's only a 10 minutes detour, plus another 10 minutes to come down and get back to the track. The views from the summit are really worth it. You can see all the way to Te Anau.
   Back to the track and continuing for another 1.5 kilometres we get to Forest Burn shelter, the first of the shelters on the alpine section. A further 3.5 kilometres on the track and we get to the second of the shelters, Hanging Valley shelter. You will find toilets in both of the shelters.
   All this alpine section is by far the best part of the Kepler Track.

   Once at the Hanging Valley shelter we start the descent to Iris Burn hut. For the first 1.5 kilometres we follow a ridge with a moderate slope until getting to the lookout point from where you get really nice views of the valley to be walked on the following day. Looking down you have Iris Burn hut on your right and Manapouri lake far on the distance on your left.
   Once down from the lookout point you get back to the forest where a steep track will take you down to Iris Burn hut in a bit less than 3 kilometres.

   Once at the Iris Burn hut we leave our backpacks and decide to visit the nearby waterfalls and hopefully take a swim to get rid of the sweat from the long day. The DOC signpost says it's only 20 minutes, or 1.5 Kilometres to get to the waterfalls and another 1.5 km to come back to the hut.
   The waterfall is really beautiful but the swim was really miserable. The water was freezing but the worst was the thousands of sandflies waiting for you to take off your clothes. In the few seconds that took me to take my clothes off and jump into the water they almost ate me alive. I think this was the fastest swim I have ever taken.
   Back to the hut the warden tells us of the many kiwis that are on the area. I could hear them clearly at night.
   



3. From Iris Burn hut to Moturau hut:
   Not much interesting in this flat section. 8 kilometres until Rocky Point shelter where you will find a toilet and another 8 or 9 kilometres to get to Moturau hut.
   Moturau hut hut is in a really nice spot, right by the Manapouri lake.
   


4. From Moturau hut to the end of the track:

   2.6 kilometres after leaving Moturau hut you will find some wetlands with a viewpoint looking at a pond. 4.6 kilometres further on the track you will find a signpost indicating a little detour to the Rainbow Reach bridge. It's only a few metres off the track and it's really nice to cross over the Waiau river. On the other side of the bridge there is a shelter, a toilet and a car park. This is another spot where you can start the Kepler Track.
   Once back on the track we will continue next to the Waiau river all the way back to the Control Gates. At some spots you will have nice views of the river although you have to be careful not to get too close to the edge since several signposts warn of its instability.
   We are finally back at the Kepler track car park. We made it!
   

In summary, this is a 61 kilometres wonderful track. The best, by far is the alpine section between Luxmore and Iris burn huts.
A bit of caution with the weather that can change very quickly in this region. Sunscreen for the sun and waterproof gear for the rain and cold.
Enjoy this unforgettable experience!