{South Gate}

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 -44.82468462, 168.1178491

Yes
1505 m	1540 m
1520 m	531 m

			Total
	12.07 km	12.04 km	24.11 km
	4h 40min 5s	3h 36min 24s	8h 16min 29s
	2.59 km/h	3.34 km/h	2.91 km/h

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This hike starts from The Divide carpark, on the way to Milford Sound. The Divide is also the place where the Routeburn Great Walk starts.
The plan for this hike is to go up Key Summit, then continue to the viewpoint and, after crossing the little forest area, continue South on the ridge for as long as possible. Then back the same way.

The high points I encountered were
    • Key Summit (918 m)
    • Mount Transit (1086 m)
    • Mount Naive (1115 m)
    • {West Twin   Sentinel} (1222 m)
    • {East Twin   Sentinel} (1222 m)
    • Mount Eternity (1328   m)
    • Mount Hope (1417 m)
    • Front Guardian (1482   m)
    • South Gate (1543 m)


From The Divide to the last summit, South Gate, it's about 12 kilometres of ups and downs, mostly up.

Beyond the viewpoint, this is not an official DOC track anymore. It's not difficult to follow until you reach Mount Transit but beyond that there is no visible track to follow anymore. Keep an eye on the GPS or try to stay on the ridge as I did.

While on the ridge I enjoyed the feeling of solitude and the great views 360 degrees.
You will be passing several small lakes on the way and it's also possible to see Lake Gunn, Lake Fergus and Lake Lochie down on the West side and Lake Makellar down on the East side, and obviously Lake Marian far in the distance.

This is a long track, with quite a bit of elevation gain, which will test your patience on the way up. When you think the mountain in front of you is the last one you realize there is another one behind and then another one and another one. It feels like you are never going to get to the last one.

You can continue further beyond South Gate but it gets a lot more difficult. First you have to go down quite a bit and then the mountains get higher, more rocky and more difficult. Due to this I thought South Gate was the right spot to turn around.

At the end of the day I was exhausted but very happy with the whole experience.