Day 1 on the Milford Track
The huts along the Milford varied in design, but they
have many standard features. The Clinton Hut shown here is typical. The
two buildings on the right and left are dormitories that hold 20 people
in ten bunk beds that come with comfortable sleeping pads, a broom for cleaning
up, and hooks for personal gear or clothing. The building in the middle
in the rear is the communal dining and kitchen facility where everyone
congregates in the evening to eat, clean dishes, and socialize. We played
a lot of Shanghai Rummy in the evenings.
We were told at each hut that while there are signs
warning against drinking the water straight from the taps in the kitchen—that
boiling the water for three minutes, filtering it, or treating it with
chemicals was our best precaution—the rangers all drank it without fear
of ill effects. We used a filter each day and didn't worry about it. I
don't know what most others did, though it appeared many boiled the water
they used.
There are at least two buildings that are not shown
here: (1) the resident ranger's quarters and storage facilities, and (2)
the trekkers' bathroom building which generally has 5-6 toilets and a similar
number of sinks. Even with 40 people living, and cooking, and eating, and
cleaning, and sleeping together in somewhat close quarters, everyone got
along smoothly.
