Routeburn Track

Routeburn Track
Key Summit as viewed from track
Length	32 km (20 mi)
Location	Fiordland & Mount Aspiring National Parks, New Zealand
Designation	New Zealand Great Walk
Trailheads	Routeburn Shelter, The Divide
Use	Tramping, trail running
Highest point	near Harris Saddle 1,300 m (4,300 ft)
Lowest point	Routeburn Shelter, 477 m (1,565 ft)
Difficulty	medium
Season	Summer to autumn
Months	Late October to late April. Possible to walk in winter months too, but for experienced hikers only
Sights	Alpine views, lakes, forests, tussocklands, rivers, waterfalls
Hazards	Hypothermia, sunburn, high winds, rocks, snow, rain & avalanche risks[1]
Surface	Dirt, rock
Website	doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/fiordland/northern-fiordland/routeburn-track

The Routeburn Track is a 32 km tramping (hiking) track found in the South Island of New Zealand.^[2] The track can be done in either direction, starting on the Queenstown side of the Southern Alps, at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu or on the Te Anau side, at the Divide, several kilometres from the Homer Tunnel to Milford Sound.

The New Zealand Department of Conservation classifies this track as a Great Walk and maintains three huts along the track: Routeburn Flats Hut, Routeburn Falls Hut, and Lake Mackenzie Hut; in addition there is an emergency shelter at Harris Saddle. The track overlaps both the Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks, with the border and highest point being the Harris Saddle. There is access to another tramping area called the Greenstone and Caples Tracks from Lake Howden near The Divide.

This area gets much less rain than Milford Sound, and the forests are very different, especially on the eastern side of the saddle, which due to less rainfall is predominantly made up of New Zealand red beech and mountain beech, with relatively few ferns. The track spends a long time on the high ridges around Harris Saddle, with great long-distance views in many directions. The track has a long history of use dating back to the 1880s.^{[citation needed]}