- Distance
- 6km
- Time
- 5hr return
- Grade
- Moderate
- Notes & Map
- Mt Burns (pdf, 1 MB)
- GPX File
- Mt Burns (gpx, yo 3 KB)
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Tarns, tops, outstanding views and an easy scramble onto an accessible Fiordland summit make this an appealing day tramp.
The Borland Road provides access into the mountains south of Manapōuri. At a layby at the summit of the road, pick up a track that leads through a short section of beech forest. After a short 30-minute ascent, this opens onto tops, with views towards Island Lake. Follow the ridge on unmarked tops to reach a series of tarns. Continue the gentle climb, arcing around into a sizeable basin with more tarns directly beneath Mt Burns. The terrain becomes increasingly rocky and the scramble up the south-west ridge of Mt Burns narrows towards the granite 1645m summit.
Expansive views unfold. Green Lake, formed by a colossal landslide 13,000 years ago, lies in a large depression, surrounded by the innumerable summits of the great, vast Fiordland wilderness.