Explore 25 write-ups tagged with New Zealand National Parks

Mueller Hut is one of the most spectacular destinations for a day hike or overnight trek in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (and perhaps all of New Zealand). Reaching the hut is no simple walk in the park, demanding an ascent of over one thousand meters in just over five kilometers. They truly don't come much steeper than this and that challenge is part of the trek's appeal. ...Read more.

In a park full of massive features, it might surprise you to learn that a couple small ponds are a premier hiking destination. The Sealy Tarns are located 500 meters up a steep mountainside, with mirror-like water that can reflect nearby mountains like Mount Sefton and Mount Cook. Sealy Tarns Track is not very long, but it is very steep, coming it at 5. ...Read more.

Kea Point offers a captivating vantage point from a perch above a glacier lake. Mighty Mount Sefton rises high in front of the viewpoint and Mount Cook is in sight as well. Kea Point can be reached from Mount Cook Village for a two-hour outing and you can cut that time in half by beginning from a car park next to White Horse Hill Campground for a three-kilometer round trip hike with 95 meters of elevation change (or 1. ...Read more.

Hooker Valley Track is among the most popular walking tracks in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park and the reasons why are obvious. This 11-kilometer (6.8-mile) round trip hike has non-stop mountain views and the destination is incredible. The track ends at the edge of Hooker Lake, where you can watch icebergs that were set adrift from Hooker Glacier, glide across the water below Aoraki/Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in the Southern Alps. ...Read more.

Two tracks are combined in Blue Lakes and Tasman Glacier View Walk for a 1.85-kilometer (1.15 mile) round trip outing, netting views of small pools and a big lake below New Zealand's largest glacier. This Tasman Valley hike ascends rocky moraine to a viewpoint that looks down on a long, milky-colored lake below Tasman Glacier and several peaks in the Southern Alps. ...Read more.

White Horse Hill Campground is the place to camp in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park and is located a couple kilometers from Mount Cook Village amidst extraordinary hiking tracks like Hooker Valley Track and Sealy Tarns Track. Named after an adjacent hill, the campground sits on a valley floor split by massive mountain ridges. Glacier-covered Mount Sefton looms large above the campsites, which have beautiful views day-in and day-out. ...Read more.

With scenery that is more verdant than the volcanic landscapes at the center of Tongariro National Park, Lake Rotopounamu Track provides a peaceful walk to a small, forest-cradled lake with inviting beaches. Lake Rotopounamu, which is also know as Greenstone Lake, covers one square kilometer. Lake Rotopounamu Loop Track circles the lake for a hike that's 6. ...Read more.

Silica Rapids Track explores improbable landscapes in Tongariro National Park, where cream-colored streams cascades over terraces of silica. The 5.15-kilometer (3.2-mile) long track starts from Whakapapa Village and ends two kilometers farther up Bruce Road, allowing it to be explored as a point-to-point hike with the assistance of a vehicle or a 7. ...Read more.

Taranaki Falls Track is an impressive 6.45-kilometer (4-mile) loop starting from Whakapapa Village in Tongariro National Park. The track crosses alpine grasslands, beech forests, and other landscapes shaped by incredible nearby volcanoes. Around the midpoint of the loop, the track reaches Taranaki Falls, which plunges nearly twenty meters (65 feet) from volcanic cliffs into a pleasant pool. ...Read more.

It's pretty obvious that Waitonga Falls Track goes to a waterfall, which is actually the tallest waterfall in Tongariro National Park. The track's other offerings may surprise you though, like a boardwalk across alpine wetlands with pools that hold a mirror to Mount Ruapehu, the biggest volcano in New Zealand. Indeed, you'll get big enjoyment from this 4-kilometer (2. ...Read more.