Brewster Glaciar, Aspiring National Park, Nova Zelândia

Trail that leads to the Mount Brewster glacier. Beautiful path, with many incredible landscapes and ending at the glacier, which is unbelievable. I highly recommend it. The trail is tiring if done in a single day (round trip) because it has a high elevation and is a bit technically demanding (e.g. walking on loose rock). It is not necessary to take equipment to walk on the ice because the snowy sections are small and, if you want, you can avoid them without difficulty (I went in November - possibly in winter the situation is different). The trail begins by crossing a wide river (water up to your knees). I wore flip flops because the rocks at the bottom hurt my feet. Then I hid the slipper on the trail and followed. There is a very steep climb in the forest with many roots forming "the steps". Then the forest area ends and the fields begin until you reach the DOC Hut. Well-marked trail (follow the arrows and sticks that mark it). Up there, there are no bathrooms and no water. In the Hut, there is water (they advise boiling before drinking because they do not guarantee potability) and a bathroom. You can stay in the Hut (it's called Brewster Hut). Appointments must be made in advance on the DOC website (www.doc.govt.nz). It is small and is almost always full in the warmer months. You can head from the Hut to the glacier. From here on, DOC no longer marks the trail. There is a trail marked by the users themselves, but it is not that good. There are stone totems that help. In this section, you will walk another 1 hour between the Hut and the first view of the glacier. Then another 40 minutes until I face the glacier (where I stopped and my marking ends). Or you can continue for another 20 minutes and descend onto the glacier. It is never advisable to stay too close to the glacier because the ice blocks break off. Then you can go down, but don't stay close to the walls where the glacier ends. I didn't go down because I was already very exhausted and I still had to go back all the way. If you choose to sleep one night at the Hut, you avoid having to do all of this in one day. I recommend this option. Any view is worth it. Going to the Hut is spectacular (from there you can see Mount Brewster and part of the glacier). Or stopping at any of the sections afterwards is also worth it. The path is beautiful. There is free parking at the beginning not very big. As the trail is not very well known, it is not crowded. The movement is only big for the Fantail waterfall. But it is very close to the parking lot and people only stay there for a few minutes.