New Zealand is home to nine Great Walks. These are man-made tracks that offer stunning scenery and a full wilderness experience, but are also easily accessible from major towns. Mount Aspiring is home to the Routeburn Track.
Starting at the Routeburn Shelter, the track ascends through alpine landscape alongside crystal-clear waters to over 1200 m above sea level, on a total distance of 32 km. Swing bridges take visitors past deep gorges and several waterfalls. A diverse range of fauna and flora, such as the kea, the rock wren and the tree fuchsia, make their home in the Routeburn Track region.
Routeburn is a former Maori track that was used to reach hunting and greenstone spots along the west coast. David McKellar and George Gunn were the first Europeans to walk some of the track in 1861.