New Zealand’s Valley of the Trolls

“On a hike across New Zealand’s Southern Alps, we find the kind of beauty fit for myths and legends”, writes Laura Dannen Redman in an article on Condé Nast Traveler.

“We had sweat and shivered our way through biting wind and rain, on a trail not much wider than an escalator hugging a rock face, following our sure-footed Kiwi guides who managed to navigate the Southern Alps like billy goats”, said Redman.

When she descended into the Valley of the Trolls on the second day of a three-day, 25-mile hiking tour Redman discovered “a stretch of Middle-earth come to life”.

“Edelweiss and daisies cut like sweet smiles across the hills, and glacier-carved fiords turned from aquamarine to steely gray as the light shifted”, writes Redman, who describes the hiking tour as the most beautiful she has ever done.

Article Source: Condé Nast Traveler, Laura Dannen Redman, October 09, 2015

Image Source: Youtube