Ultimate Hikes Officially Opens Its 30th Season

Ultimate Hikes officially opens its 2022/23 hiking season today, marking its 30th year of operation on the Milford Track.

Ultimate Hikes General Manager Noel Saxon is thrilled to welcome in the new season and a return to an earlier start date – from early-December back to mid-November.

“We’ve had incredible support from Kiwi walkers over the past two seasons whiles the borders have been closed and we’re pleased to see they’ve returned in force this year too, Saxon says.

“When the borders opened, we were able to open up our bookings to international visitors which gave us the opportunity to offer more hikes - we are now almost back to operating a full season.”

The team at Ultimates Hikes are looking forward to celebrating the company’s 30th anniversary operating the Milford Track guided walk. The operation joined the Routeburn Track guided walk, bought in 1989.

The anniversary coincides with the Department of Conservation [DOC] marking 30 years of the Great Walks, of which the Milford and Routeburn Tracks are two of the most iconic. The Great Walks were established to protect and restore the biodiversity along these tracks.

Ultimate Hikes is proud to work alongside DOC in maintaining the tracks and protecting the region’s native flora and fauna.

Ultimate Hikes is also working with conservation groups to better understand the habitats of native wildlife and protect them from introduced predators.

“We work with the Kea Conservation Trust and Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust on some really interesting projects, it’s great to share our knowledge and learnings with our walkers and they’re always keen to know more,” Saxon says.

The season runs through to early April 2023. There is limited space still available on the Milford and Routeburn Track guided walks.

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