Mt Hart & Lake Quill | 4K

A four day trip to explore the hills around the Milford Track with Darius and Alannah.

Our initial plan (made the evening beforehand) was to climb Lady of the Snows. But I soon remembered that I was not up for prolonged Fiordland bushbashing, so we peeled off to our Plan B option of Lake Quill. This iconic spot, which feeds Sunderland Falls, was on our bucket list and is the site of the iconic Windows 10 wallpaper.

The Milford Track made for fast travel up to Mackinnon Pass. From there, we had fairly windy conditions before we could climb the sheltered aspect of Mt Hart and drop down towards Lake Quill.

Alannah and I made our way to the Lake Quill outlet, but ran out of time trying to navigate the bluffs near the base. As Darius liked steep tussock climbing about as much as I like dense bush bashing, he opted to instead have a nap. Which was arguably the wise choice here.

It was great to be up on the tops for such a good weather window. We’ll have to come back out another time and take the long way around for our swim.

28/12/2025 - 31/12/2025

Music: Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier - Corb Lund