Mueller Hut reopens as Mt Cook toilets, carparks fill to the brim

Mt Cook's parking and toilet facilities have been overwhelmed this summer.

The scenic Mueller Hut trail is back is set to welcome back its first day walkers after being closed at the weekend. But it’s not only toilets that are under pressure in one of the best-visited national parks.

The Mueller Hut route was closed to day hikers on Sunday because the toilet tanks at the hut were nearly filled after a busier-than-expected summer for visitors.

Signs were placed at the start of the four-hour trail from Mt Cook Village, warning that it was closed to day hikers “for the foreseeable future”.

On Monday, the Department of Conservation told the Herald that there was no timeline to reopen the trail, with exact dates depending on the availability of specialist equipment.

This closure of the scenic alpine trail was blasted by outdoor groups including the Federated Mountain Clubs. Vice-president Allan Brent said that it was obvious that DoC was under “intense resource pressure” but, he told RNZ, the “solution of getting a helicopter up there could have been easily found in the budget”.

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DoC says it was able to access the specialist equipment to service the hut’s toilets and the tanks were emptied on Wednesday, allowing day walkers to return today.

Mueller Hut, near Aoraki/Mt Cook.

However, DOC Aoraki/Mount Cook operations manager Sally Jones says the park was still under immense visitor pressure.

The toilets servicing the 28-bunk alpine hut were seeing unexpected foot-fall from day walkers, with up to 250 hikers on the track per day.

“Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is a stunning place and it’s great to see people enjoying the park. The challenge for DOC is our facilities – our huts, tracks, toilets and especially carparks – are struggling to handle these high visitor numbers,” said Jones.

The White Horse Hill carpark has been overflowing with cars parking on the roadside every day, and the campsite has been almost full this summer.

Jones asked visitors to take their litter, park respectfully and poo in a loo.

Day walkers have been banned from the Mueller Hut route after toilets ran out of capacity. Photo / Facebook

The fragile alpine environment of Aoraki/Mt Cook Park is seeing more visitors, which could be especially damaging if loo facilities are overwhelmed and people toilet outside of the provided facilities.

DoC manages a network of over 2000 toilets nationally, many in remote locations. However, this is the first season that the Mueller Hut toilets have had to undergo an emergency emptying.

- Correction, 22 February 3pm: The story originally stated that the trail was not scheduled to open until end of the season. An exact timeline could not be given due to dependence on specialist equipment.