Fiordland traversed in 39 days
Adventurer Mark Jones is feeling an ‘‘incredible sense of satisfaction’’ after completing a solo mission to traverse New Zealand’s largest and most rugged national park.
His mostly off- track hike in the Fiordland National Park took 39 days, and he travelled a total of 328km, according to the Follow My Challenge website.
He had earlier estimated the walk would take about 40 days, and he had expected to walk about 400km.
Jones, 57, began his ambitious trek from Te Waewae Bay, near Tuatapere, on February 6 and walked out of the bush on March 17, being met by his waving parents across the Eglinton River.
Jones said he had lots of emotions flowing through him when he finished and was delighted to see his parents at the end.
His finished feeling strong, having ‘‘blasted’’ up the Dore Pass during the trip, with his fitness levels high after negotiating plenty of steep and rugged terrain during the past 39 days.
‘‘I feel like I am 40 again.’’ He was pleased he had done the trip solo, saying he wouldn’t have liked to have made some of the decisions he did if someone else was with him.
Every few days he got into steep terrain where there was zero margin for error and he was ‘‘pretty close to the line’’, he said.
On Tuesday he had taken a steep route on a hunch and it got steeper and steeper, to the point where he wouldn’t have been able to backtrack if necessary.
‘‘You just keep pushing and pushing and hoping ... it gets harder but you keep going because you run out of options.’’
Jones, who has completed several world first adventures, including traversing the Antarctic peninsula by sea kayak with two mates, said the Fiordland trek was his hardest. ‘‘It’s a long time to be pushing your body hard. I was astonished at how gnarly some of the days were and how well I was able to do them.’’
He believed luck played a part in him not being injured, saying every day there was potential to break a leg as he was often unable to see his feet while walking through vegetation including ferns and over rotten logs.
Jones, who saw plenty of deer during his journey, often followed deer tracks.
He slept in his tent and in bush huts, which were about five days apart, during the journey.
‘‘The trip isn’t completely feral because you have these [hut] sanctuaries to take stock and recharge . . . and be away from the sandflies and weather.’’
He had a wet set of clothes he walked in and a dry set he changed into each evening, and had to mend his boots and clothing on several occasions with sewing jobs.
Jones, who ate from food caches dropped into the bush for him at weekly intervals, said his original claim that Fiordland was one of the world’s great wildernesses had not been eroded in any way.
‘‘I feel really privileged to have had the opportunity to do that journey, which is really restorative and give you a massive sense of self-satisfaction, but also being able to share it with people through blogs.’’
He had raised more than $10,000 for mental health, saying he was overwhelmed by people’s generosity.
Next stop was thanking his supporters in Southland before returning to Auckland to be with his wife and daughters.
‘‘I am hanging out to get back,’’ he said.
‘‘The trip isn’t completely feral because you have these [hut] sanctuaries to take stock and recharge . . . and be away from the sandflies and weather.’’
Mark Jones