Hooker Valley Track

The Hooker Valley Track in Mt Cook is probably the best views:effort ratio of any track I've ever done. I've walked it twice, once with my best mate Krissi and once with another best mate, my mum. Both times were stunning and accompanied with camping in the White Horse Hill campsite, an experience that shouldn't be missed.

This page is my visit with mum, while my trip with Krissi is on a separate page under day walks with the whole Mt Cook visit.

Our trip started with a drive over from Christchurch. Before heading over Burke's Pass, the weather was horrific, with me apologising to mum the whole time - having only ever visited Tekapo and Mt Cook in stunning blue skies, the dreary cloud had me disappointed! Luckily once we got over the pass I got the clear blue skies I was hoping for.

Disaster part 2 struck when we made it to White Horse Hill campsite (after a lovely dinner in Tekapo) and found that I had forgotten the tent poles. After driving into the village and finding they were booked up, we decided to be adventurous and made a bivvy using the tent fly, the doors of my car and a large tree. It was adventure glamping given the queen air bed stretcher we were on!

Waking up the next morning after a refreshing sleep, we headed down Hooker Valley. Due to time constraints of meeting dad back in Tekapo we didn't make it to the glacier, but I was able to run to see the newly refurbished Hooker Hut which didn't exist the last time I was in Mt Cook. All in all - a very enjoyable trip!