It’s taken several millennia of earthquakes and glacial erosion to create the impressive landscapes of Arthurs Pass National Park, making it a trampers paradise.
From expansively wide, rock-strewn valleys of the Waimakariri, to gut-busting tracks up forested ridges with the reward of expansive views of jagged peaks and glaciers. Within a single day you can clamber up steep and narrow paths through tranquil beech or podocarp forests, take in epic views from the top of rocky peaks, refreshing yourself with the ancient waters of ice-coid glacial streams. Then cruise home on wide-river flats alongside those crystal-clear rivers.
Glaciers up to 1,000 metres high have done some serious and not very subtle sculpting here. Thankfully several eras have passed since nature’s colossal earthmovers retreated, allowing the rivers and streams time to do their bit eroding the tops and depositing thousands (perhaps millions) of rocks into those steep valleys. This
