We drove for two to three hours to get into the mountains, but every aspect of the drive was beautiful.
After a while we came upon this incredibly blue lake with trees in the foreground and mountains in the background. Apparently the blue color comes from the minerals in the water that reflect light to produce this really nice color. It almost looks artificial. 
From there we drove through areas that were like high desert. 
Then we got to another lake with Mount Cook sticking up above the rest of the range. This is one of the areas where some of the Lord of the Rings movie was filmed.
The scale of the space is really quite large. For example the lodge where we were going to be spending the night is near the base of Mount Cook. It is about 57 kilometers from where we are standing to the hotel. The lake is about 50 Kilometers long.
After leaving this picturesque spot we drove around on the left side of the lake.
Along the way there were lots of place to pull off and see great views. Karen reminded me that if we stopped at all of them we will never get to the hotel.
We eventually got beyond the end of the lake and there broad flat valley between the mountains opened up into a huge arid plain.
Every mountain in the range began to show a different character.
Some were loose gravely with vegetation and snow pouring down like some huge glacial ice cream Sunday desert. Other mountains were dark and foreboding. Others were snow and ice capped standing majestically in the distance. Still others had snow blowing off of and over their peaks.
After we checked in we decided to take a hike out on one of the many trails. We picked one that would take us closer to Mount Cook and would get us to a glacier. 
We took some pictures of ourselves in case we were captured by Orcs there would be some record of us passing by this way.
Some of the trail was relatively level, but other parts were pretty rough.
As the sun was setting behind the mountains to the west, the colors of the other mountains were somewhat muted, but still beautiful.
We could see how these epic landscapes would be just perfect for shooting the Lord of the Rings movie.
We looked back toward the hotel/lodge, nicely blended into the side of the mountain.
We arrived at a vantage point from which we could see the glacier.
The glacier is the long gray horizontal shape just behind Karen’s shoulders in the photo
This glacial lake with the glacier on the far side was sort of a gray color.
These ridges in the lake are actually the glaciers, they are covered with rock fragments so they look like pile of gravel, but they are actually ice.
Some hikers heading out even further than we were planning to hike. They most likely were headed to a camping area. You can just see then on the left of the photo below picking their way through the rocks.
From this location we got a different view of Mount Cook. You can see the bluish glaciers near the peak and about half way up the side.
We took a couple of We were here shots and decided to head back. The sun was going down it was beginning to cool down quite a bit and we had about an hour’s hike back
Some of the vegetation in the valley was interesting and it was clear that life here was not all that easy.
We stopped several times along the way to get some really dramatic shots of the mountain with the sun setting. 
Cool harsh grays where the sun can’t reach and warm golden colors where the sun can still touch.
Eventually we got back to the cabin where we were staying for the night. 
It had great views of the valley and of the mountains.
What really looked good at that point, however, was a nice bed and some food. 
Our plan was to get some sleep, get up early and catch the sunrise on the mountain in the morning.We did go out that evening and drove out into the middle of the valley several miles from any light source and watched the stars. What a great sight.
1 comment:
Amazing pictures Jay! I think I could really seriously live there.
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