Hooker Valley Track

The activities depicted on this site are inherently dangerous and can result in serious injury or death. Any action that you take as a result of information obtained from this site or any information provided through Hike2Hike is at your own risk.

Mount Cook is one of the infamous world peaks that anyone who enjoys mountaineering or watches a few documentaries about it, will come to know the name of at some point. With it being half a world away for most people and away from many of the world's top tourist destinations, only some ever get to lay their eyes on it. For those who dare wander into Aoraki Mount Cook national park, it is surprisingly easy to reach by walking the Hooker Valley Track.

Since this was my first time in New Zealand and being on a tour of the South Island, there was no way I could allow my chance to see it slip through my fingers. Luckily, TrailCutter had worked a stop into our plans so we could walk the Hooker Valley Track.

sir Edmund Hillary alpine centre

aoraki mount cook from the alpine centre

After a quick stop at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centere for a scan of the museum, we left directly from there to start the trek. Most start the Hooker Valley track from White horse hill campground. However, the parking lot for the track can get highly overcrowded, especially on a busy day, with parking lining most of the area to the trailhead. Since starting from the Alpine Centre only adds about 1.6 km, it may be roughly the same extra distance you could walk along the road to find parking.

hooker river and mueller lake

trailcutter and waterboy

After hiking in the cascades for 20 years, I figured it would be at least a few minutes of walking before we would see any glimpse of Mount Cook. However, not only is Aoraki / Mount Cook visible from the Alpine Centere but it only disappears for a few minutes while headed to the standard trailhead. For the rest of the time, while walking the hooker valley track, Aoraki / Mount Cook stands tall and visible above your head for the entire walk.

I was mystified the whole time. Aoraki / Mount Cook is around the same height as Mount Adams in Washington. But, with the way New Zealand's peaks rise from sea level, it appears as big as the great peaks of the Himalayas.

Aoraki / Mount Cook

bridge over the hooker river

hooker valley track bridge

Mount Sefton above hooker valley

While walking the trail, I mentioned something about Seattle that caught another person's attention. He and his wife happened to be from the Portland, OR, area and were spending some vacation time walking around the South Island. As luck would have it, they had also just been walking through the Milford Track Great walk the previous week. We shared some of our astonishment at the surrounding scenery and continued along our way. Even writing this a year later, it still seems quite interesting to have met someone who lives a mere 3 hours from me halfway around the world.

The track ends at Hooker Lake, which lies just below Aoraki / Mount Cook's southern flank. With the bobbing icebergs in Hooker Lake and a wind blowing across the top of the mountain behind, it was one of the best lunch spots I have seen in my life. On the way back out, I daydreamed of coming back and climbing some of the mountains in the area while turning and looking back at the mountain looming over the valley.