A perfect first overnight hut, surrounded by Aotearoa’s highest mountains.
Where is it?: Hooker Valley, Aoraki Mt Cook National Park. Start from the White Horse Hill carpark.
The Track: About 4km along the Hooker Valley track. The track is excellent condition on a busy track, with two massive swingbridges. The track to the hut follows the creek bed at Stocking Stream and has deliberately not been highly marked to prevent day-walkers from visiting a lot. Follow the stream bed up and look for the markers to back track up to the hut. Couldn’t give a precise time as we had the gift of time and so the kids played a lot in both directions.
The Hut: I had high hopes of this hut when I heard it was being built and I was not disappointed. It’s a beautifully renovated Alpine hut (moved from higher up the valley). All the good of the old, combined with the new – insulated, warm, great woodburner. We were there mid-winter and the kids got too hot in their sleeping bags. 8 bunks – 6 in bunk room, 2 in main area. The hut is part of the booking system all year round, costing $15/adult and $7.50 child. Gas stoves and wood supplied (key code supplied when you sign in at DoC ). There are also bookable campsites available.
Good to know: Book in advance as this is popular hut – go mid-week if you can 🙂 Also, the weather can be intense in this part of the motu. Think West Coast rain with gale force winds, it gets it all. Once you’re in the hut you’ll get warm and dry pretty quick but it can be pretty full-on in the strongest weather. In such conditions DoC closes the swing bridges and track up the valley so best to check at the Visitors Centre if the forecast is rough.
Visited by: Nic, James, and Ned, and Jo, Freda, and Ada. July 2021
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