In April 2025, one of New Zealand‘s most popular day walks – the Hooker Valley track in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park – partially shuttered its doors. The second swing bridge on the track was deemed unsafe for visitors due to erosion and heavy rainfall, so the Department of Conservation made the decision to close it.
More of the track has since reopened, but the second swing bridge will not be usable until a new one is constructed. This essentially means that until autumn 2026 (i.e. March to May 2026), all visitors will have to stop before the second bridge, roughly halfway into the track.
If you’re planning to travel to Aoraki Mount Cook before autumn 2026, what does this mean for your travel plans? Should you go ahead and visit, or should you change your plans? Is Aoraki Mount Cook National Park still worth visiting with half of the Hooker Valley track closed?
Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer. It depends on several factors, which we’ll go through shortly.
First, I’ll show you which parts of the Hooker Valley track you will be able to see currently, and I’ll also show you what you’ll be missing after the second swing bridge. (The photos in this post are from our trip in 2023 – please don’t try to get around DOC closures!)
Then we’ll go through other walks in the Aoraki Mount Cook national park, as well as vantage points where you can view Mount Cook from the village.
At the end of this post, hopefully you’ll be able to make an informed choice as to whether or not you should go ahead with your visit.
What can you see on the Hooker Valley track after the closure?
The Hooker Valley track was originally a 10km return track, but is now 4.3km return due to the closure. The path is flat, graded, and very easy to walk, with almost no elevation gain.
White Horse Hill Campground is the starting point for most of Mount Cook National Park’s tracks, except for the ones around Tasman Lake. You can park your car here if you have one, otherwise it’s a 2.6km walk from Mount Cook Village.
Update 17 Aug 2025: The DOC intends to start charging for car parking at White Horse Hill car park starting Dec 2025. Unfortunately this does mean that people visiting after that date will probably have to pay up to $20 a day for parking, despite the fact that the Hooker Valley Track won’t fully reopen until the following autumn.
The only toilets currently accessible in this area are located at the campground. Hooker Valley does have another toilet along the track, but it’s located after the second swing bridge, so you can’t get to it at the moment (and you really want to avoid that one if you can anyway, trust me!).
You’ll pass the turn-off to the Alpine Memorial soon after you start your walk. It’s a really short side trip, with great views from the top. Engraved on the memorials are the names of people who sadly lost their lives in this national park.
Afterwards, the track meanders through subalpine shrublands, with views of the surrounding ranges.
Then, you’ll get your first look at the milky blue glacial waters of Mueller Lake against the backdrop of Mount Sefton, before crossing the Hooker River via the first swing bridge.
This part of the track is stunningly beautiful, even though you can’t see Mount Cook from here. Honestly, I would be happy to spend hours and hours here if I could.
We had some low-lying clouds roll in during the middle of the day (which Aotearoa New Zealand, aka “land of the long white cloud” in Māori, is certainly infamous for!). So we didn’t get to see the peaks of the Mount Sefton range, but that didn’t take away from its beauty.
After a while, you’ll get to your final lookout, which offers close-up views of Mueller Lake and Mount Sefton.
This lookout marks the end of the current track. Apparently you can see or hear avalanches here sometimes, but it was quiet the entire time we were there (we had lunch at the lookout!).
What CAN’T you see on the Hooker Valley track currently?
It should be worth noting that you won’t see much of Aoraki Mount Cook from the Hooker Valley track before the second swing bridge.
This is because the first half of the track faces northwest, towards Mount Sefton. Only after the second swing bridge does the track starts heading northeast, which opens up your line of sight to Mount Cook.
We took the photos below in 2023, prior to the track closure. Unfortunately there is no way to access these places until the second swing bridge is rebuilt.
The only part of the track where you can see Mount Cook before the second swing bridge is to take a short side trip up to the Alpine Memorial. As the Memorial is situated on a little hill, the elevation allows you to catch a glimpse of Mount Cook far in the distance.
You also won’t be able to see Hooker Lake at all. Which is a pity, because Hooker Lake is full of beautiful little icebergs that have calved from Hooker Glacier.
There aren’t any icebergs at Mueller Lake, because Mueller Glacier has unfortunately retreated so much that it is now hidden behind moraine (a stark reminder of the reality of climate change).
However, there is another open walk which does take you to icebergs at Tasman Lake – more on that below.
What other day hikes does Aoraki Mount Cook national park have?
Kea Point Track
Kea Point is the another “easy” walk that also starts from White Horse Hill carpark, and is a lot shorter than the Hooker Valley track, at only 3km or 1 hour return.
But honestly, if the Hooker Valley track was a 10, Kea Point would be a…. 5?
It doesn’t have the grand sweeping views of Hooker Valley, the track is quite a bit narrower and rougher, and there is only one viewpoint – right at the end.
I’m not sure where its name came from, but we didn’t see a single kea (and from the comments on Google Maps, I don’t think most other people did either!).
The viewpoint at the end was fairly nice, to be fair.
There’s Mount Cook in the distance, as well as an up-close view of Mueller Lake, and of the spot where Mueller Glacier used to be. A grey moraine wall takes its place now.
To be honest, I wouldn’t really recommend doing Kea Point unless you have time to spare.
Looking back at these photos, it feels a bit strange to say that, doesn’t it? Basically, Kea Point is still beautiful, but most of us only have a limited amount of time in that area, and New Zealand sets the bar very, very high.
Tasman Glacier tracks
We did the Tasman Glacier walks during our recent New Zealand trip in 2025, and I heartily recommend them! They offer the most incredible views of Tasman Lake and Tasman Glacier, and we saw a ton of icebergs that were practically close enough to touch.
There are two main tracks and two side tracks that all start from the same trailhead, all of them fairly easy and with their own unique views. You can also see Aoraki Mount Cook on all of these tracks, although it doesn’t dominate the landscape like it does in the Hooker Valley walk, due to the different viewing angle.
I wrote a detailed guide on the Tasman Glacier walks – suffice to say they were the highlight of our 2025 trip.
Sealy Tarns track
The Sealy Tarns track (5.8km return) is technically categorized as “easy”, but I’m not so sure about that.
We could see the turn-off to this track when we were doing the Kea Point hike.. and guys, it looked steep as hell. I was getting tired even looking at it!
The DOC acknowledges this, despite having given it its “easy” rating. Their website states that “The track zigzags steeply up to Sealy Tarns. The track is very steep and it narrows as it approaches Sealy tarns. It’s easy to slip […]”.
So yeah, I wouldn’t do this without at least one experienced hiker in my group and adequate preparation. I also definitely wouldn’t do it in the winter.
The views do look spectacular, however. Maybe one day, if I’m ever fit and experienced enough…
There are other well-known hikes in Mount Cook National Park, like the Mueller Hut Route and the Ball Hut Track. As they are advanced hikes, however, they are beyond the scope of this post; you can read more about them on the DOC website.
Other ways to view Aoraki Mount Cook
Being the highest mountain in New Zealand at 3,724 meters, and with a stunning visual profile, it’s no surprise that everyone who shows up at the national park wants a look at Mount Cook.
So, we already know that you can’t see much of it from the partially-closed Hooker Valley track other than from the Alpine Memorial viewpoint. We also know that you can view it from a few of the other tracks.
How about from Mount Cook Village itself? It depends on which part of the village.
The southern part of the village, where most of the accommodation is located, does not have views of Mount Cook. We stayed at Aoraki Court Motel, and while we did have gorgeous views of Mount Sefton from our apartment, we could not see Mount Cook.
However, there is one hotel further north in the village that does…
The Hermitage Hotel
The Hermitage Hotel is steeped in history. If you read Sir Edmund Hillary’s “High Adventure”, he wrote about how all the big names in the mountaineering world would hang out here in the evenings, way back in the 1930s and 1940s.
Of course, they’ve been through a few renovations since.
You can stay the night here, but rooms with Mount Cook views are usually quite expensive. According to reviews, the rooms in the old building are also rather, well, old… so you’ll be paying a lot for a room that will be less comfortable than its lower-priced counterparts elsewhere.
The most affordable way to enjoy their fantastic location is to head to Sir Edmund Hillary Cafe and Bar, which is in the same building, and has floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows with Mount Cook views.
The cafe is open from 10am to 3.30pm daily. Their food is nothing to write home about, but that’s not what you’re here for.
If the weather is nice, you can sit on their balcony, which looks out over the incredible Hooker Valley.
Aoraki Mount Cook National Park visitor center
The visitor center is in the building just south of the Hermitage, and entrance is free.
Besides views of Mount Cook framed with funky window designs, they have information and exhibits on mountaineering back in ye olde days. As well as, tragically, a book with the names and circumstances of people who lost their lives in Mount Cook National Park.
I skimmed through parts of the book, and was saddened to read that many of them weren’t even attempting to climb mountains. They died on regular hiking trails, including some of the trails that we talked about in this post.
It’s a poignant reminder of how nature can be incredibly beautiful, but incredibly deadly at the same time. Always be prepared when you head out.
You can (and should) also get updates and information about the tracks in the national park from the staff here.
Conclusion: Is visiting still worth it?
So, should you still visit Aoraki Mount Cook national park before Autumn 2026?
If you are easily able to return for another visit in the future, or if you have already made non-refundable plans, I think you should definitely go. There is still plenty to see and do in the vicinity, and the parts of the Hooker Valley track that you can walk are breathtaking.
But if a trip to New Zealand is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for you, then you should wait. The bridge should be rebuilt by May 2026, so you won’t be waiting long.
Sitting on the shores of Hooker Lake, looking out over its perfectly calm slate blue waters to the icebergs and Mount Cook beyond… that’s an experience that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. And I really don’t want you to miss out on it.
Update 20 Sep 2025: I visited Mount Cook National Park again and did the Tasman Glacier walks. In my opinion they are just as good as Hooker Valley (honestly, I was not expecting that!), so I now lean towards just visiting regardless.
