|
The Milford Track is a widely known tramping (hiking) route in New Zealand – located amidst mountains and temperate rain forest in Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the South Island. The 53.5 km hike starts at the head of Lake Te Anau and finishes Milford Sound at Sandfly Point, traversing rainforests, wetlands, and an alpine pass. The New Zealand Department of Conservation classifies this track as a Great Walk and maintains three huts along the track: Clinton Hut, Mintaro Hut and Dumpling Hut. There are also three private lodges and four day shelters available. == History == The native Māori people used the Milford Track for gathering and transporting valuable greenstone. There are many Māori legends about the track and the native species found in it. Donald Sutherland and John Mackay were the first European explorers to see what are now known as Mackay Falls and Sutherland Falls, in 1880. Quintin McKinnon was the trekker and entrepreneur that first widely disseminated information about the Milford Track to the general public. He began by guiding tours himself and expanded with a marketing campaign from there. Many parts of the Milford Track are named for Mackinnon, including Mackinnon Pass, the highest point of the Track. According to the official New Zealand Department of Conservation literature, Mackinnon also impressed with his "ability at cooking pompolonas, a type of scone from which one of the guided trip huts takes its name."〔(History of the Milford Track at NZ Department of Conservation. )〕 With Milford Sound never really having an industrial or agricultural future, most visitors and investors from early on decided that tourism was to be the main draw to the sound, and the Milford Track was established to a large degree to provide a tourism function for guided treks. The track was very famous with women from early on. Some parties consisted of three-quarters females even in the first half of the 20th century.〔''The Finest Walk In The World'' - information and history book provided in the Milford Track huts, New Zealand Department of Conservation〕 For a great length of its history, only commercial companies had the right to be on the track. Only later did the 'Freedom Walker' movement, led by New Zealand's alpine and walking clubs, force a compromise which allowed individual, non-guided tours on the strictly "rationed" route. Today, the quota system allows approximately half the "capacity" of the track to be used by guided tours while the other half is undertaken by people walking on their own or in informal groups. Both groups use separate systems of huts. Due to its popularity and the limited facilities available for overnighting (camping is not permitted), the track therefore remains heavily regulated. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Milford Track」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|