Mt. Cook National Park

Craig:

I can pretty much trace my desire to come to New Zealand back to one National Geographic article I saw many, many years ago.  The article highlighted the many different types of landscapes that New Zealand has to offer.  I remember two specific pictures: one picture of some penguins hanging out on some very rugged coastline at the Catlin Coast and one other picture of Mt. Cook.  The picture of Mt. Cook was during the winter with a storm rolling in so you could see snow blowing off the summit into a very funky design.  Both pictures stuck in my mind and I finally got to see both of them. 

Mt. Cook lies within Mt. Cook National Park in Central New Zealand.  It is the tallest peak in New Zealand by far, towering over the rest of the Southern Alps at 3754 meters (around 12,000 feet).  The mountain lies in a very isolated area so there is only one way in and one way out.  We got an early start and drove to the mountain despite weather reports of clouds and rain (and snow in some spots).  There is a small village at the base of the mountain with a hotel, café, guide services, and the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Center, which details the history of mountaineering the area.  The area is a hot camping spot so Bridget and I set up our tent early in the day and then set off on the hike to the base of the mountain.  The info on the hike claims that it is a nice walk which should take about two hours.  That nice walk ended up to have stream crossings, incredibly rocky terrain, swing bridges, and took about four hours.  Despite all the obstacles, we made it up to the mountain in good time and could not have had better weather.  The summit was totally uncovered by clouds and there was no fog in the valley to obscure the view of Hooker Glacier, which lies in the valley just below the summit.  Here are some pictures from the hike:

Mt. Cook with Hooker Glacier at top of lake

Upon return, we rested for a little bit and then headed over to the Tasman Glacier.  It lies just a valley away on the opposite side of Mt. Cook.  The Tasman Glacier is the longest glacier in New Zealand.  It was a short hike up to a point where we could get a good view of it.  It was covered with rock and gravel so it was not as pretty as the other glaciers in the area but well worth the short hike just to see how large it is (and the “icebergs” in the terminal lake). 

 Tasman Glacier with terminal lake

After a great day of hiking, we turned in early at our prime campsite to sleep the night away in hopes of doing another hike in the morning.  That was not to be.  The “Night” offered rain showers and I awoke to a puddle of water under the tent and pouring rain outside.  Anyone who has camped before knows how miserable it is to camp when you are wet.  We were lucky that our air mattresses provided enough coverage so our sleeping bags did not get wet but the tent was soaked.  We packed up all of our sopping wet gear and headed for the West Coast where we thought things might be better but that was not to be either.  It rained and rained all day and the drive to the West Coast was filled with foggy, rainy views of mountainsides instead of the fantastic peaks above.  The one good thing was that when it rains in New Zealand, a hundred new waterfalls come out of nowhere and we saw most of those on the drive.  The all-day rains had put all the rivers and streams at their brinks.  I like to say they were “full swull.”  We finally made it to a small west coast town named Haast where we will start our west coast leg of the trip.  We dried out the tent, made some good food, had a beer & chips, and got ready for the next couple of days.

Next stop:  West Coast Glaciers and beaches