Mt. Cook National Park

Yesterday I arrived in the town of Mt. Cook, near the base of the mountain. It’s an extremely small town with just two hostels, a couple motels and a visitors center. I wanted to get some hiking in, so I’m here for a few days.
When I arrived it was gorgeous outside, but the weather report stated rain for the next few days (and is raining as I write this!). I got here around 12:30, so got my room settled then headed out on a hike.

Check out the view from my hostel bed and the small town.

Thee are only a few hiking trails here, but I decided to hike the Sealy Tarns trail. The trail has approximately 2,200 stairs and leads you to “tarns”, which are small ponds formed by glaciers. The mountain hiked is part of the Sealy range, hence the trail name!
Much to my surprise, the main mountain/glacier you see from town and in these pictures is actually Mt. Sefton. Mt. Cook is off to the right a bit, but there was a cloud lingering the whole day. 

The trail was pretty flat until the stairs, and then they got pretty steep! I actually enjoyed the stairs rather than just a steep hill.

As you climb, the views open up and are incredible! You get the whole valley and surrounded mountains – there is even a Mt. Sebastopol! The town is in the right corner of the below photo – you can’t see much from the angle.

Made it to the top!

As Mt. Sefton is covered in snow, there’s glacial runoff and a small lake/stream you can see from the top. You can barely see Mt. Cook in the background.

The reflection of Mt. Sefton in one of the tarns. 

I really lucked out with it being so nice! There are a few other walks in the valley that I can do in the rain, but hope it holds off for a few hours here and there.

On the way back I spotted this sign! One letter off but still neat. Pretty nice place to stay for a few days!