"It is now harder to book a walk on the Milford Track than it is to see Justin Bieber or Adele live in concert in Auckland," the Guardian wrote this week.
The article draws attention to the amount of litter alongside one of New Zealand's biggest tourist drawcards. The 54km hike is one of its Great Walks and gets more than 8000 visitors during summer.
Most of those 8000 visitors hike the track over four days, using the huts that they pre-booked.
According to the Guardian, contractors working on the track barely have time to finish cleaning up before the track is reopened.
It quotes a contractor who last year told RNZ: "You find poos and toilet paper just littered down the side of the tracks".
Last year, tickets for the Milford Track sold out within 90 minutes.
A Department of Conservation worker told the Guardian the track has "become a highway, a conveyor belt".
"People come here looking for meaning, searching for some sort of solace. But the bush doesn't just give that up. In the huts there's so much squabbling and showing off.
"To me, Milford isn't about tramping anymore - at least, not how Kiwis know it."
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