Photo Essay: Hiking the Andes with Mountain Lodges of Peru

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If you happen to be down in Te Anau for the Milford Track, you might as well clean your gear, do your laundry, get a good meal and a shower, and head right back out again. The Kepler Track was built in 1988, partly to offer an alternate to the over-popular Milford and Routeburn Tracks. The official start is about an hour's walk from the Department of Conservation offices on Lake Te Anau; from there, the trail is a 42-mile loop. So you don't even have to arrange a bus ride (although there are several transportation options available that can shorten the trip from four days to three days). Best of all, you don't have to book in advance for the Kepler Track. Simply show up the day you want to start walking and get your permit at the Te Anau Department of Conservation office.