The entire Kepler Track in one day (71,9km)

Length: 71.9km
Duration: 15:08hr
Elevation gain: 2'770m
Elevation loss: 2'778m

The Kepler track is one of the nine great walks of New Zealand. When we were visiting New Zealand in 2016, we had a couple of days left to do some hiking. As we were in the area of the Kepler track we looked into accommodations along the track, as the route is 60km long. However, as it was peak season, all huts were already booked, what a bummer. At some point in the evening Zeno said 'well, we could also just run the whole track in one day, then we don't need a hut'. He was half joking and half serious, and soon the idea actually became a reality. We looked for a hostel near the start of the track, bought a second small backpack, planned our food for the day and arranged a shuttle to Te Anau, the closest city to the track.

In the evening before the big hike we fuelled ourselves with a huge portion of pasta and packed our stuff. Te Anau is roughly 5km away from the trailhead of the Kepler track, and in the early hours, their are no busses, shuttles, or cabs running and as we did not have our own car, we actually started our run at the hostel, adding another 5km to the 60km Kepler track. Well, does 5km really make a difference ;)

We started the run/hike at 5am in the morning, it was still dark outside, but the sun was slowly rising. By 6:15am, we were at the trailhead of the Kepler track, now the real joy was about to happen. The first 10km were flat, so we were able to run this section. During the next 20km, you ascent 1'400m to reach the first of two mountain. After 27km, the rest of the route is going all the way down and then flat until you reach the trailhead again, a beautiful loop.

Just below the first mountain, there is the first hut. By the time we reached the hut, people were waking up and enjoyed their morning coffee, it was kind of refreshing to have already climbed a full mountain by the time others would wake up ;) Once we reached the hut, the scenery was just breathtaking, there was a little bit of snow on the track in shady areas, but nevertheless we managed to run flat sections. It was actually the first time, we ever tried trail running and were hooked ever since.

During the hike, we saw a couple of people, but overall the track didn't feel too crowded. At some point, on the way down, we ran past a women who was hiking down and she joked 'You're not running the whole thing, aren't you?', we said 'Actually, yes' ;) She was impressed, and it gave me quite a motivation boost.

By the time, we made it to 40km, the route was fairly flat and running/walking was getting more and more exhausting. For most of the time, we moved forward in what we called speed-hiking, as we didn't have the power to run anymore. To be fair, it was the first time we ever hiked/ran a distance over 40km in one day.

After 15hrs, we finally finished the full Kepler loop and I was done. I was extremely happy, proud, but couldn't move anymore. There were again no shuttles running to bring us back to the Te Anau, but fortunately we were able to hitchhike back to the hostel. I think I wouldn't have been able to walk an extra 5km... Back at the hostel, e made another full plate of pasta, showered and had an amazing sleep. The next day, we could barely walk, stayed in the hostel the full day, ate a lot and read books. It was a perfect rest day and our last day in NZ, as we were heading back to Europe the next day.