Key Summit Track
See also:
View map for track locations.
Other tramping tracks and routes requiring a high degree of preparation and fitness can be accessed from Milford Road. Contact the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre for more information.
Great Walk/Easy tramping track
Time:
3 hr return
Getting there
The Key Summit Track is accessed from Milford Road which runs from Te Anau to Milford Sound in Southland.
About the area
The Milford Road section of the World Heritage Highway is a unique journey into the heart of Fiordland National Park. You can admire the scenery from a vehicle or stop to discover short walks or viewing sites along the way.
Fiordland National Park is a vast, remote wilderness and heart of Te Wāhipounamu - South West New Zealand World Heritage Area.
Description
The Key Summit track is an ideal introduction to the impressive scenery and natural features of Fiordland National Park.
The track starts at The Divide carpark and shelter and follows the Routeburn Track for about an hour. It then branches off on a 20 minute climb to Key Summit, where there is a self guided alpine nature walk.
Walkers will pass a range of native vegetation: beech forest, sub-alpine shrublands, and alpine tarns and bogs. Birdlife is prolific and tomtits, robins, wood pigeons and bellbirds are commonly seen.
Key Summit provides panoramic views over the Humboldt and Darran Mountains. During the last ice age, which ended about 14,000 years ago, a huge glacier flowed down the Hollyford Valley and overtopped Key Summit by 500 metres, with ice branches splitting off into the Eglinton and Greenstone Valleys.
Plan and prepare
What to expect on a Great Walk/Easy tramping track:
- Moderate day or multi-day tramping/hiking
- Track is generally well formed, may be steep, rough or muddy
- Suitable for people with moderate fitness. Limited backcountry (remote areas) experience required
- Track has signs, poles or markers. Major stream and rivers crossings are bridged
- Light tramping/hiking boots required
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