Sealy Tarn Track
Type: Out and back
Distance: 4.5 km (2.8 miles)
Elevation change: 520 meters (approximately 1706 feet)
Optional: you can continue hiking up to the Mueller Hut
Kea Point Track
Type: Out and back
Distance: 2.8 km (1.7 miles)
Elevation change: 200 meters (approximately 656 feet)
Comment: Same starting point from Sealy Tarn Track, and there is junction. One to Sealy Tarn and Mueller Hut, the other is to Kea Point
Everyday we got up at at 5 a.m. and started activity at 7 a.m. All the way we came to New Zealand. Why not maximize the time of activity!?
On the second day of Aoraki/Mt.Cook National park, we started hiking to Sealy Tarns. Tarn is a word used in NZ (seems like). I believe I had never heard it in the wilderness in the U.S., but maybe only me who didn't notice it, because I am not a native English speaker. Tarns are used for indicating small lakes or ponds in NZ. For me Sealy Tarns sounded like a silly tarn, so it was funny. On the way to Sealy Tarn is steep, but there is continuous view, which helped me to blow the tiredness away. Looking back the way I had climbed and saw the view of the picture below. Parking looked already small with tiny cars. Vast valley with steep cool mountains, once all covered with glaciers. Outstanding!
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| On the way to Sealy Tarn |
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| Steps |
The track has a lot of (read: A LOT OF) steps: it seems NZ tracks like to provide steps if it is well maintained, and popular tracks. These steps reminded me of our hiking friend, Mr.S2. He used to have knee issues and had to go slow on the steep trail with steps in Grand Canyon. I would not recommend this for people with knee issues.
As I went up, I was able to see the Hooker Lake and Mount Cook/Aoraki in a different angle from a hike of a previous day. Besides, there is a good view on the left side of mountains. Since we started early and beat the crowd, it was nice to stare at that breathtaking view in a quiet setting.
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| Beautiful Hooker Lake |
From the Sealy Tarn, the trail continues to the Mueller hut. The trail until Sealy Tarn is track, after that it will be a route (how to call trail in NZ is described in the NZ trip blog #1). We tried tramping up some on the route, but as a ranger had told us before, there was a lot of snow and it seemed crampons and ice axe were needed. Also the rangers warned us there was avalanche risk, so we decided to turn around after 1 km of tramping after Sealy Tarn. Some people went to the Mueller hut really early morning and coming back to the spot we were taking a break. Mr.N asked how was the track and a guy said the snow is until thigh level. Also he mentioned it would be dangerous in the daytime. It was already a great view there, so we were satisfied. Later I noticed that I left my sitting pad at the break point. Sigh. It is better than other more important thing, though. The pad was only $14. This 2019 December there was much more snow on the way to the Mueller hut. Actually we had planned backpacking to the muller hut and camp there overnight, but we decided to skip it. It is wise to think that better safe than sorry, due to avalanche risks.
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| At Key Point |
After we came down from Sealy Tarn, we went to Kea Point. This is recommended for people with intention to have a nice short hike without much elevation gain. Although it is short, it is a spectacular hike. From Kea Point, Mount Sefton can be seen very well. It is gorgeous. It is so massive and I felt like I was sucked from its immense glacier. Reflecting the sunshine with blue sky, the blue glacier even looked more blue.
There is a sign at Key Point how people figured out the way to the summit of Mount Sefton. If I remember correctly, first people climbed from the side in the picture, but later other side found be easier.
After these two hikes in the a.m. we had lunch near the trailhead and headed for the next hike.
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