Milford Trek Part 1

Sometimes you start out with one expectation of a trip or experience, and end up getting something quite different. Our 33.5 mile Milford "Track" as they call it here was like that, in that we expected beautiful scenery, clean air and pristine waterfalls, good exercise and while we got all that, the highlight of our trek was the wonderful people we met along the way.
We quickly realized that we were completely unprepared for this. This is a four day, three night hike which you book through the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and you stay in huts along the way which have bunks and toilets and cold running water, but no electricity. Only forty other hikers are allowed on the trail at one time, so you are sleeping and eating together all three nights. I was a little worried about that, but it turned out to be the least of our problems. You were so tired at the end of the day you didn't care who was sleeping next to you.
So we had reserved our places, rented backpacks, sleeping bags, and equipment, and our rental guide said "oh, you can't wear those shoes, you'll have to have tramping boots" so we rented those too. Big mistake. The packs weighed at least 30 lbs each, the boots felt fine the first day, but by the second we had sore toes and aching backs. Pat said "I don't know if we're too old, too out of shape, or too stupid, but I'm thinking it's all three". This wasn't a walk down a nice path, it was over rocks and at times boulders. And the other 38 hikers - some older than us, some younger - were literally flying over the trail. Smiling and snapping photos and saying "Isn't this grand?"
Humbling.