If you had your sights set on hiking NZ's Milford Track this season, bad news: Bookings sold out in under half an hour.

Fortunately, most of the time spent walking the Milford Track--a four-day, 33.5-mile walk on New Zealand's South Island--involves more marveling than worrying about the surroundings.

In 1908, 20 years after the route first opened, a London writer described New Zealand's Milford Track as a "notable walk." Her editor, as British editors are wont to do, juiced her words into the ...

Christine Barnes, based in Oregon, is the author of "Great Lodges of the West" (1997) and "Great Lodges of the Canadian Rockies" (1999) FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK, New Zealand — Our group of ...

In a shopfront in Queenstown, New Zealand, surrounded by eager hikers, an official Milford Track guide eyes my bulging backpack. “That looks heavy,” he says, grabbing the top handle and ...

It’s a lovely day in Milford Sound: drenching rain and waterfalls flying upwards in the 45-knot winds. The place is pretty on a clear day, but until you see it in full torrent you won’t really ...

Hiking the Milford Track, New Zealand. Bliss can never happen of its own accord. When it has been years-long away it needs some outside intervention. Narcotic versions were never for me – look at ...