Hooker valley track is one of the tracks to do at Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. There are many grades of hike that one can do including short walks, walking tracks, tramping tracks and route, at Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. But, the hooker valley track is one of the most popular walking tracks amongst tourist and locals alike, if I do say so myself.
The track is a 10-km return track that starts and ends at the White Horse Hill Campsite. With a total walking distance of 3 hours, on average, and an 80-metre height gain over 5 km, this track is on the easy level in terms of grade and difficulty. The track can easily be done in less time but, if you’ll be taking pictures and/or recording videos, I suggest you allow 3 to 3.5 hours.
All you would need for the hike are a comfortable pair of shoes, preferably walking or hiking boots, a bottle of water (under 1 L), sunshades and a hat (for sunny days) or warm jacket or hoodie and gloves (during winter).
Hooker valley track is a free hike where you’ll pass through great viewpoints like Alpine Memorial and Mueller Glacier viewpoint. Then, proceed to cross three swing bridges to get to the glacier lake where you behold the serene views of Hooker glacier, Aoraki/Mt Cook, and Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. Here’s a document for more information.
My first trip to Mt Cook was on January 9, 2021. It was one of the activities I did on my first ever New Zealand South Island road trip. The plan was to do the track but, my travel buddy wasn’t keen on going on this hike for reasons including that we were to be in Christchurch that evening.
He said he was reserving his energy for the drive, and I was like “yimu!”. Anyway, after I got slammed with a speeding ticket of $250 and demerit points, his excuse no longer seemed like one. Yes, he drove for the rest of the journey. This baby girl was too sad, angry and beaten to drive.
Back to the hike,
During that first visit to Mt Cook, I’d walked up to the first swing bridge on the hooker valley track and that was it (more photos on my instagram page). I have a fear for heights so, the fact that these tall swing bridges actually swings (thinking sarcastically “who would have thought?”) made me do a 360 degree turn back to the car.
I still feel proud of myself for even walking across the swing bridge. Deep down, I really wanted to complete the track because of the photos I’d been seeing online. The damn acrophobia got in the way. Moreover, I went on my own so no one to motivate me. Any ho!!!
Fast forward to this year, when me and the boys went on our Christchurch Easter 2022 holiday, I was determined that we complete the Hooker Valley Track. We initially planned on doing the Meuller hut track, an advanced tramping track that requires mountaineering gears and advanced experience. This track is also prone to avalanche so…. Yay na.
The long and short of this story is that, I finally completed the Hooker Valley track, took beautiful still and moving pictures, and made a whole movie outta of it. Watch the video below.
