Stunning Mountains, Moss, and Botany

When we went deeper into the wilderness for a few days, we entered a region of incredibly beautiful and dramatic scenery. This entire trip has been a vocabulary exercise, trying to find the right words to describe the stunning splendor and color and even texture of everything I see. Suffice it say, neither these photos nor descriptions fully do it justice, but even a weak attempt is better than nothing. Once we left Lake Manapouri, we headed into New Zealand's Southern Alps. The road was at the bottom of a narrow valley that sliced its winding way between immense mountains, which rose nearly vertically thousands of feet into the sky. I kept craning my neck to try to see their rocky peaks, which were often obscured by clouds. We did two hikes one day, the first along part of the Kepler Track, the second on the Routeburn Track. (This photo was taken as we entered the range where the Routeburn Track is located.) Amanda and I always end up at the back of the group on the hikes because we like to stop and take pictures of the plants. Could I be a closet botanist? We joke that when we get home, we're going to make and sell a calendar with our best NZ nature photos so we can write this trip off as a business expense. Ha. But seriously, how can you trek through such gorgeous landscapes and NOT take a thousand photos? First off, there are a zillion different types of fern, all amazingly green and cool-looking, then there are all the different mosses growing on the ground, on rocks, and on trees. The trail we walked on the Kepler Track was positively springy under our feet, thanks to all the moss. And don't even get me started on the dozens of plants that I've never seen in the States and now want to take home with me. Whenever we didn't have a guide around to ask, Amanda and I stared assigning our own names to some of the flora we saw. In particular, there was parsley moss (you can imagine why we called it that) and another moss that Amanda nicknamed Gimly's beard due to its dark reddish brown color, like that of the dwarf Gimly in the Lord of the Rings films. The first moss grows on rocks while the second was seen clinging to the sides of trees high up on the mountain. We also saw delicate white flowers called mountain lilies (actual name). Everywhere we looked was another vista or plant or mountain waiting to take our breath away. The only downside was the misty weather during our second hike. The clouds obscured what I'm sure was a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Guess I'll just have to come back to see it.