Hiking the Hooker Valley Trail
Apr. 14th, 2024 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNew Zealand Travelog #19
Mt. Cook National Park, NZ - Sat, 13 Apr 2024, 5pm
There are two trails we short-listed for our brief visit to New Zealand's Mt. Cook National Park. They both look to be amazing trails— especially in clear weather, with views to the snow capped peaks topped by 12,000'+ Aoraki (Mt. Cook). Alas, poor weather is what we've got so far this whole week, and there's no letup. Actually tomorrow there's a slight letup— it's not supposed to rain tomorrow, just be cloudy all day. So our choice today was which of the two hiking trails would be better (or less worse) in the rain.
We picked the Hooker Valley trail. It's a roughly 7 mile roundtrip up Hooker River past Mueller Lake and to Hooker Lake, where the foot of Hooker Glacier rests below 12,000' Aoraki. And yes, we picked this hike for the rainy day because it's less steep than the other hike on our short list, the Red Tarns trail. Steep trail + rain = heightened risk of slips and falls.
In the interest of keeping this travelog from falling behind (okay, I'm already about a day and a half behind but hoping to close that gap) I'm sharing just two pics from this hike. For now. Later on I'll followup with maybe a half dozen more plus a few videos. But for now I'll start with a photo from the end of the trail (above). I'm standing at Hooker Lake. You can see the foot of Hooker Glacier at the back of the lake. Sir Not Appearing In This Photo is Mt. Cook, shrouded in the clouds. And yes, we waited a bit at the lake to see if the skies would clear a bit. This is the "Ooh, the skies just cleared a bit, now we can see some of the mountains" photo.
Well, the skies actually cleared a bit more 20-30 minutes after we left the lake. No, they didn't clear over the lake; we checked! We seriously might have gone back if they did. They cleared over the middle of the trail. So I'll share a photo from there.
This photo shows one of the three suspension bridges on the trail. They cross the Hooker River. Today the water is pounding through the riverbed, swollen by runoff from rain in addition to late-summer glacial melt and snow melt. (BTW, the "late summer" weather we're getting here is about 10° C in addition to being rainy.) The suspension bridges are novel because they are bOuNcY. When I share video later you'll see how I'm moving up and down even when I'm standing still.
Mt. Cook National Park, NZ - Sat, 13 Apr 2024, 5pm
There are two trails we short-listed for our brief visit to New Zealand's Mt. Cook National Park. They both look to be amazing trails— especially in clear weather, with views to the snow capped peaks topped by 12,000'+ Aoraki (Mt. Cook). Alas, poor weather is what we've got so far this whole week, and there's no letup. Actually tomorrow there's a slight letup— it's not supposed to rain tomorrow, just be cloudy all day. So our choice today was which of the two hiking trails would be better (or less worse) in the rain.
We picked the Hooker Valley trail. It's a roughly 7 mile roundtrip up Hooker River past Mueller Lake and to Hooker Lake, where the foot of Hooker Glacier rests below 12,000' Aoraki. And yes, we picked this hike for the rainy day because it's less steep than the other hike on our short list, the Red Tarns trail. Steep trail + rain = heightened risk of slips and falls.
In the interest of keeping this travelog from falling behind (okay, I'm already about a day and a half behind but hoping to close that gap) I'm sharing just two pics from this hike. For now. Later on I'll followup with maybe a half dozen more plus a few videos. But for now I'll start with a photo from the end of the trail (above). I'm standing at Hooker Lake. You can see the foot of Hooker Glacier at the back of the lake. Sir Not Appearing In This Photo is Mt. Cook, shrouded in the clouds. And yes, we waited a bit at the lake to see if the skies would clear a bit. This is the "Ooh, the skies just cleared a bit, now we can see some of the mountains" photo.
Well, the skies actually cleared a bit more 20-30 minutes after we left the lake. No, they didn't clear over the lake; we checked! We seriously might have gone back if they did. They cleared over the middle of the trail. So I'll share a photo from there.
This photo shows one of the three suspension bridges on the trail. They cross the Hooker River. Today the water is pounding through the riverbed, swollen by runoff from rain in addition to late-summer glacial melt and snow melt. (BTW, the "late summer" weather we're getting here is about 10° C in addition to being rainy.) The suspension bridges are novel because they are bOuNcY. When I share video later you'll see how I'm moving up and down even when I'm standing still.
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Date: 2024-04-15 01:43 am (UTC)Looks lovely!
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Date: 2024-04-16 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-17 06:10 am (UTC)