Just starting out on your tramping journey? Or would you like to introduce your friends to the mountains, but don’t want to frighten them with steep hills and dangerous tracks? Here's 10 introductory trips to whet your appetite
1. Welcome Flat, Westland National Park Brave the tourist traffic to follow in the footsteps of Charlie Douglas up the Copland Valley. This iconic tramp gives a glimpse of Westland’s lush podocarp forest, river and mountain scenery, while the hot pools are an added attraction for weary adventurers. The well-graded trail skirts forested river flats along the Karangarua River before swinging east up the Copland. In places the old pack track is undercut, so boulder-hop along the river bank, enjoying the fresh breeze and open space. Kereru are in abundance and you’ll most likely see kea and the ubiquitous weka. The 31-bunk, two-storey lodge at Welcome Flat is truly a welcome sight. You will, no doubt, be heading for the legendary hot pools, a mere minute’s walk away. Reputedly the finest springs in the backcountry, they were discovered by Alf Dale in the mid-1890s while he was helping explorer Charlie Douglas blaze a trail up to Welcome Flat. Lie back and drink in unrivalled views of the snow-capped Sierra Range. Easy. 5-7hr. Start/finish 26km south of Fox Glacier township on SH6. 2. Lake Angelus Hut, Nelson Lakes National Park [caption id="attachment_4933" align="aligncenter" width="906"]



