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Hooker Valley Track (New Zealand) – Tips + photos with the glacier lake

Last updated on February 14, 2024 by Claire Robinson - this article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I get a small commission (more)

The Hooker valley track is one of the most famous half day hikes in New Zealand. Located near in the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, is offers beautiful views of mountains, rivers, lakes and glaciers. Below is my guide to help you hike to the Hooker glacier lake.

Hooker valley track New Zealand travel
Content
Why hike to the Hooker Glacier lake?
PLANNING TIPS – Hooker Valley Track New Zealand
Hooker valley road – Drive to Hooker valley track carpark
Difficulty of the Hooker glacier lake walk
Start of Hooker Valley hike
Mueller Lookout towards Mueller Lake
2 Bridges on Hooker river & Narrow valley in between
Walking along the Hooker River
Last swing bridge – Upper Hooker Bridge
The Hooker glacier lake
Alternatives – Kea Point track and Tasman glacier walk

Why hike to the Hooker Glacier lake?

The Hooker Valley Track is one of the most popular half day hike in New Zealand. 
It offers some of the best views in the Aoraki / Mount Cook National park that are not too difficult to access.

During this hike you will walk next to 2 lakes, cross the river 3 times and enjoy mountains all around.

Hooker valley track, New Zealand
Hooker valley track, New Zealand

This 2h return walk leads you to the shore of the Hooker glacier lake where you may see iceberg floating right at your feet.
And even if the clouds are low and you can’t see the mountains and the glacier, the lake offers a beautiful experience, as you can see in the picture below.

Hooker glacier lake, New Zealand
Hooker glacier lake, New Zealand

PLANNING TIPS – Hooker Valley Track New Zealand

Getting to Hooker valley track carpark

  • South Island
  • Located at the Northern end of Lake Pukaki – see my Lake Pukaki article
  • Not far from Aoraki Mount Cook village
  • At the Mount Cook, turn right into Hooker valley road for 2km of pave road
  • Twizel to Tasman Valley carpark = 50min drive
  • Queenstown to Tasman Valley carpark = 3h15 drive
  • Christchurch to Tasman Valley carpark = 4h15 drive
  • You can find the Tasman Glacier Walk in my travel guides that facilitate the planning of your New Zealand itinerary:
Plan your dream trip to New Zealand with my guides!
  • 12 easy-to-plan maps
  • 200+ pre-selected locations
  • GPS coordinates 
  • Useful planning tips
  • 285+ large photos 
Discover it
  • 6 easy-to-plan maps
  • 110+ pre-selected locations
  • GPS coordinates 
  • Useful planning tips
  • 190+ large photos 
Discover it

Hiking to Hooker glacier lake

  • Free carpark
  • Free access to the walk
  • Toilets near the carpark
  • Picnic table at the lake
  • The hike is not technically difficult. There are no long climbs or long staircase. Just small ones
  • Return it takes 3h for 11km (6.8mi)
  • It is not always perfectly indicated when there are bridges. Know that you always have to cross them
  • If you can’t do the whole walk, you can do a shorter 30min loop to the Mueller lookout
  • There is no best time to do this walk. The weather can completely change in the few hours…
Starting point Hooker valley track hike
Starting point Hooker valley track hike

Accommodations

  • If you plan on doing several walks, I recommend staying at Mount Cook village to enjoy the brillant scenery – Check out options
  • Otherwise you can head to Twizel which is a practical location to explore the area – See the best rated accommodations in Twizel
  • I stayed at the Mountain Chalets Motel. The decor was tired but the room was spacious, and the location was practical. Check out photos and availability

Hooker valley road – Drive to Hooker valley track carpark

Mount Cook road

Let’s start with the road to get there.
If you are not staying at Mount Cook village, you first have to drive along Lake Pukaki. 
Even with low clouds it is a wonderful drive with the mountains carved by the glacier.

Mount Cook road
Mount Cook road

Hooker valley road

At Mount Cook village, you turn into Hooker valley road. The mountains drop suddenly next to the road and the views are magnificent. But keep focusing on the road!
It has a couple of narrower passage where you should slow down to cross other vehicles (but it remains easy with good visibility)

Hooker valley road
Hooker valley road

Hooker valley carpark

And shortly you will arrive at the carpark. As I wrote, it is a very popular hike and some people also come to do the shorter walk to the Mueller viewpoint.
Therefore the carpark becomes a bit of a mess…

Hooker valley track carpark
Hooker valley track carpark
Need to rent a car in New Zealand?

My tips:

  • Compare prices on my favorite platform:  Discovercars.com – one of the best rated comparison sites!
  • Prefer a car with enough power for the mountain areas
  • Consider their full coverage option – it for peace of mind! 
  • Book early to have a large choice of vehicles!

See all my tips

See available cars

Difficulty of the Hooker glacier lake walk

The walk was technically easy. And even though it is 11km return, it is not physically challenging.

  • State of the track – The paths are well maintained. In some areas, you will even walk on boardwalks.
  • Climbs –  There are no long walk uphill – and where it is a little steeper, they have added stairs
  • The only difficulty some people may have would be crossing the swing bridges. They are quite long. But they don’t swing much. I was ok on them.

Below are a few pictures showing you different states of the Hooker valley hiking trail:

Difficulty path Hooker valley track
Easy hike to Hooker glacier lake - bridge
Easy hike to Hooker glacier lake - stairs
Easy hike to Hooker glacier lake - clear path
Easy hike to Hooker glacier lake - boardwalk

Start of Hooker Valley hike 

The beginning of the walk is very easy with flat path. 
You can easily find the sign indicating where to go.

Access Hooker valley track

Your experience will of course depend a lot on the weather conditions.
When the clouds are low, you many not see anything of the surrounding mountains.
On the way to the glacier, I did not see much. But as I returned, it started clearing up.

Start of Hooker valley hike
Start of Hooker valley hike 2
Start of Hooker valley hike 3

Mueller Lookout towards Mueller Lake

Your first stop is near Mueller Lake.
You can climb a small promontory to reach the Mueller lookout.

Mueller Lookout
Mueller Lookout

From there, you can enjoy a great view of the Mueller lake and Mt Sefton in the background.
The lake has a cream color and is filled by the Mueller glacier.
However, the Mueller glacier has shrunk a lot and today you don’t really see it from the lookout.

Mueller Lake lookout
Mueller Lake lookout

But when the clouds are here, the view many be limited…

Mueller Lake lookout in the clouds
Mueller Lake lookout in the clouds
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2 Bridges on Hooker river & Narrow valley in between

Mueller lake bridge

From the Mueller lookout, you can see your next adventure: the first swing bridge over the Hooker river, right next to the Mueller lake.

Mueller lake bridge
Mueller lake bridge

From the bridge, you have beautiful views of the river.
Depending on the season, it might be roaring more or less.

Hooker River 1
Mueller lake swing bridge 2

Moraine

You then keep walk away from water for a little while.
Sorry I don’t have better pictures but when the clouds are higher, you keep having magnificent views of the mountains around…

Hooker glacier lake hike in the clouds photo 3

2nd swing bridge of the Hooker Valley track – Hooker Bluff Bridge

The 2nd swing bridge called Hooker Bluff bridge is the most famous of the 3 as it is higher above water.

Hooker Bluff Bridge
Hooker Bluff Bridge
Hooker valley track swing bridge 2

You can see the milky water rushing in the rapids towards Mueller Lake.

Hooker valley track swing bridge 3

Walking along the Hooker River

After that the walk continues along the river. In this section you will get a lot of boardwalk.

On a clear day, I have read that you see Mt Cook, the tallest mountains in New Zealand, during this part of the walk. It rises at 3724m (12218ft)

Boardwalk along the Hooker River
Boardwalk along the Hooker River

Last swing bridge – Upper Hooker Bridge

And then you reach the Upper Hooker Bridge, the last one.

Note: this is where I had the biggest hesitation regarding the path. And the answer is… cross the bridge!

Upper Hooker Bridge
Upper Hooker Bridge
swing bridge - Hooker valley track 2
swing bridge - Hooker valley track 3

After that, you just have one last climb. In the picture below, you can see someone standing at the top of the path. This is where the lookout is.

One last climb
One last climb

The Hooker glacier lake

My own experience of the Hooker glacier lake was really strange.
Were were totally in the clouds with no views of the glacier or the mountains.
Yet the atmosphere was wonderful.
If that happens to you, focus on the water and on the sounds the valley makes with the wind and the ice.

Lookout at Hooker lake
Lookout at Hooker lake

Even though I was unlucky in regards to the mountains, I was very lucky with the quantity of icebergs.
As the sun was hidden, they were not melting fast and many of them floated.
Some were reaching out shore of Lake Hooker.

Icebergs at Hooker glacier lake photo 1
Icebergs at Hooker glacier lake photo 2

And below is what the place look like and the clouds are much higher than when I visited…
Magnificent, isn’t it?

Hooker glacier lake
Hooker glacier lake

Alternatives – Kea Point track and Tasman glacier walk

If you want more hiking ideas in the area.

Tasman Glacier Walk

From a different carpark only 10min drive away, you can climb to the Tasman Glacier lake lookout.
It only takes 30min return and offers splendid views of the valley.

See my article

Tasman Valley walk
Tasman Valley walk
Tasman Glacier Lake
Tasman Glacier Lake

Kea Point Track

Another option is the Kea Point track.
It starts:

  • either from the same carpark as the Hooker valley track but heads North instead of East.
  • or from Mt Cook village

It leads to the Kea point lookout

Want to see more of NEW ZEALAND?

PREVIOUS: 

TASMAN GLACIER WALK NZ

NEXT: 

Haast Blue Pools, Wanaka

Tourism New Zealand Travel Guide

Have you ever had the sky clear up as you left? Frustrating, isn’t it?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Catherine says

    May 6, 2014 at 11:01 PM

    Love the photos of the snow topped mountains, looks truly breathtaking!

    • Claire Robinson says

      May 12, 2014 at 11:24 AM

      Thanks Catherine. I do love the contrast when the top of the mountains have snow but where I am is all green.

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