Aoraki/Mount Cook village walking tracks
Track category
Walking track
Description
Governors Bush Walk
Time: 45 min return
This delightful bush walk begins at the public shelter and explores one of the last stands of silver beech forest in the Park. A gradual climb leads to a lookout point before the track descends and returns to the village. This popular walk offers birdlife, a good viewpoint of the mountains and shelter in poor weather.
Bowen Bush Walk
Time: 10 min return
This easy forest walk begins across the road from Alpine Guides. The loop track wanders through totara and celery pine forest and has an alternative exit or entry towards Glencoe Lodge.
Glencoe Walk
Time: 30 min return
Start from behind the Hermitage. The walk zigzags through totara trees with a ferny understorey, emerging at a lookout near the prominent water tanks above the Hermitage. Walkers are rewarded with a birds-eye view of the village and beyond to the white ice of the Hooker Glacier and Aoraki/Mount Cook. Sunrise and sunset are good times to catch light-play on the mountains.
Aoraki/Mount Cook Village as view from
Red Tarn track
Red Tarns Track
Time: 2 hr return
Begin at the Public Shelter and follow the path to Black Birch Stream. Cross the bridge then climb steeply to the Red Tarns. A viewpoint offers a spectacular panorama of the valley and Aoraki/Mount Cook. The tarns were named from the red pond weed that grows in them.
Kea Point Walk
Time: 2 hr return from the village, 1 hr return from the White Horse Hill carpark.
Start from the Hermitage lawn and cross the road to the track sign (or leave from the public shelter at the campground). This walk gently winds its way through sub-alpine grasslands and scrub to the Mueller Glacier moraine wall. The track passes through landscape that was formed in 1913 when a stream cut through from the glacier to the original Hermitage site, damaging the building. The walk ends at a viewing deck that gives stunning views of Mt Sefton and Footstool, the Hooker Valley, Mueller Glacier Lake and Aoraki/Mount Cook.
Hooker Valley Track
Time: From the village: 1st swingbridge: 1 hr 30 min return, 2nd swingbridge: 2 hr return, Hooker Lake: 4 hr return
Begin at the Visitor Centre or White Horse Hill camping areas. Starting from the camping area reduces the times by 45 minutes. One of the most popular walks in the park, it leads up the Hooker Valley towards Aoraki/Mount Cook. The track passes close to the Alpine Memorial, which is a great viewpoint. Continue on to Hooker River and cross twice on swingbridges before reaching Stocking Stream Shelter. Continue beside the river to its source to reach the Hooker Glacier terminal lake.
Guides and commercial tourism providers