Diary - Km 2615.6
Snow!
Since my last birthday I had an interesting round of seasons. It was spring, summer, autumn, then I went to New Zealand spring, summer, autumn, and soon I’ll be back home for another round of spring, summer, autumn. I feel like I’ve missed some winters.
Enter Mt. Cook (Aoraki).
It’s not on trail. It was a side trip I wanted to do. The night before the side trip Aoraki was covered in a huge cloud that brought tons of snow to the hills. From the very morning it was a perfect day- cold enough to wear a fleece, beanie and gloves, but not freezing. Snowy mountains in the background of Twizel town, trees turning autumn yellow. My favorite season, my favorite smell in the air and my favorite background.
We hitched towards Mt. Cook, climbed up in almost knee-deep snow, built a snowman, threw some snowballs, listened to the hum of the mountains, saw magnificent glaciers and my craving for winter was satisfied. For now. But next winter I’ll spend in the snow.
If you want an easy hike, you can take a Hooker Lake track. It’s a 10km track to the lake and back with no elevation.
If you want views from above - Mueller Hut Route is the way to go. This is the one we took. You climb loads of stairs in the beginning which then turn into rocks. Be careful where you place your feet if going in the snow - it covers the holes and crevices in the rocks.
Both tracks can be found on Alltrails app, one of my favorite apps for hiking.
