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.
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.
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.
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:
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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…
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.
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 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…
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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:
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.
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.
Mueller Lookout towards Mueller Lake
Your first stop is near Mueller Lake.
You can climb a small promontory to reach the 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.
But when the clouds are here, the view many be limited…
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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.
From the bridge, you have beautiful views of the river.
Depending on the season, it might be roaring more or less.
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…
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.
You can see the milky water rushing in the rapids towards Mueller Lake.
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)
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!
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.
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.
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.
And below is what the place look like and the clouds are much higher than when I visited…
Magnificent, isn’t it?
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.
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
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Have you ever had the sky clear up as you left? Frustrating, isn’t it?
Love the photos of the snow topped mountains, looks truly breathtaking!
Thanks Catherine. I do love the contrast when the top of the mountains have snow but where I am is all green.