Tucked away in an area mostly consisting of alpine terrain is New Zealand's getaway spot called Mt. Cook National Park. Mt. Cook is the highest point on all of Aotearoa on the Main Divide of the Southern Alps. Regardless, it is surprisingly quite accessible via a town named Twizel.
The drive on the Interstate Highway 80 via Twizel was nothing short of spectacular; with incredible scenery and cool mountain air - even in the midst of summer. Throughout the journey from Twizel to the park entrance, the imposing snow capped Mt. Cook stood like a sentry, overlooking the vast blue lake Pukaki. Long thin wispy clouds floated across the mountains; a common sight to behold thus explaining why the native Maori gave their land its name- Aotearoa or Land Of The Long White Cloud.
At the end of Interstate Highway 80 is Hooker Valley and Mt. Cook Village. Here you will be greeted by throngs of hikers and campers alike, from local kiwis to multitudes of foreigners from far away places. This is indeed a nature's paradise, and one that is well maintained; thanks to the hardworking staff from the Department Of Conservation.
It was a crystal clear day with the sun out in full force. Even at this altitude of about 2,700', I could feel the radiation of the sun burning my skin. The first portion of the track is quite smooth, as we walked past sub-alpine trees and scrubs. Not too far into the track, we came to a bench. This bench signifies the the start of the grueling steep climb of about 2,200 steps made from wooden ties. Depending on the time of year, this section can get quite crowded. If all these steps don't take your breath away, perhaps the views might.
At the end of the never ending steps, you will be greeted with a view of a tarn with Mt. Sefton (the third highest mountain in New Zealand) reflecting of it. There is also a picnic table for one to enjoy a snack or a packed lunch or a well deserved water break whilst soaking in the views. At this point you can give yourself a pat on the back if you made it this far. But for us, we decided to forge on farther up, to Mueller Hut and to have a glimpse of the many glaciers and waterfalls from the top of the skyline ridge of Sealy.
The next section is not graded as the route now becomes steeper and begins to zig-zag across vast fields of scree, talus, and boulders with sparse alpine scrubs like tussock. We followed the orange pole markers, and we noticed how steep some sections were. It was a slog, to say the least, as we took one slow step after another, progressing ever so slowly. At this point, I was getting quite a severe sunburn on my exposed neck, hands and feet. As we approached the crest of the ridge, the loose scree became ice. Good thing we had our light traction device with us and it helped to give us some grip and footing. The packed lightweight poles certainly helped too, especially on the way down.
The views on the ridgeline are spectacular. There are many glaciers and waterfalls waiting to be photographed. On the far right is Mt Sefton, the third highest peak after Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman.
From here, it will take another 15 minutes to reach Mueller Hut. Since the hard part was over, the track to the hut was a real breather. A few hops and skips over some rocks and the view of the red painted hut comes into view.
There were quite a number of people around the premise of the hut and I believe most were planning to overnight in it. As for us, it was time to head back down, yes all 3,400' of elevation we gained in the last 4 hrs or so. Overall, the hike back down wasn't as bad as we thought it will be, partly thanks to the hiking poles we brought along. All in all, this will definitely go down as one of the tougher hikes we had ever done (and one where we ran out of water before reaching the hut and we needed to replenish water there). With slightly aching knees and ankles, the views on the way down certainly helped put all that behind us. It was a well worth trip, every step of it.
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