Mount Egmont National Park

It was nice to have a good nights sleep before accessing the Mount Egmont National Park, hitching a ride from New Plymouth to Egmont Village and then a ride to the visitor centre at North Egmont with ease. The national park is dominated by the majestic andesitic volcano of Mt Taranaki (2518m), the central point of the national park. Approximately 125,000 years old, it is the park’s most recent volcanic peak. Last erupting around 1755 the mountain is now considered dormant. Local Māori believe Mount Taranaki once stood with the mountains of the central North Island. After a dispute with Tongariro over who should marry Pihanga, Taranaki fled his ancestral home, carving out the bed of the Whanganui River on his journey to the coast.

My loose plan for my time in the national park was to spend 3 days incorporating the Pouakai Circuit, a summit attempt of Mount Taranaki and Dawson Falls. After leaving the visitor centre I headed through lowland forest crossing several small streams including a couple of swingbridges towards the 1220m summit of Henry Peak. There were great views of the mountain from here, as well as Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe even visible in the distance. I was astounded the weather was so good after seeing a weather forecast of rain rain rain all weekend. I instead had clear skies and sun! After leaving Henry Peak I skirted round Maude Peak to the Pouakai tarns where I had lunch. I was particularly happy I had good weather at the tarns as they act like mirrors and made some pretty cool photos!

From the tarns I reached the Pouakai Hut where I stopped briefly for water. From here I had the option to summit the 1440m peak of Pouakai, but the cloud was coming in and starting to cover Mount Taranaki so I didn't want to risk getting caught out in rain. I therefore headed down to the Ahukawakawa Swamp which led me to the Holly Hut, my bed for the night. I arrived mid afternoon and despite Mount Taranaki being shrouded in cloud the weather was holding out, so I did a short additional walk down to the 31m high Bells Falls which was a pretty waterfall about half an hour walk each way from the hut. When getting back to the hut it was nice to have a fair amount of time to relax and unwind with an attempt of the summit envisaged for the following day.

I was surprised by the fact that I was only one staying in the Holly Hut, which is a 32 bed hut and apparently one of the most popular in the national park. It was raining come evening though and was still raining come morning. I left the hut relatively early, with the plan being to reach the Maketawa Hut via the summit of Taranaki. When leaving the rain had stopped although it soon returned, all be it light rain. I had a gradual ascent from the hut, walking along the slopes of Taranaki passing the sketchy Boomerang Slip and the towering lava columns of the Dieffenbach Cliffs en route. The mountain was not visible however although I could still see New Plymouth and surrounding areas.

I eventually reached the Tahurangi Lodge at about 1500m which is where I began my serious ascent to the summit. The weather at this point was pretty good, although the mountain itself was covered in cloud. The path was sheltered initially following this valley before opening up onto the scoria slopes. Here it became more exposed and by about 1800m I was in the cloud. The next section called the lizard was the most challenging as I was walking up loose terrain with little stable material to put my feet on which made making progress slow. By about 2100m it became a bit easier though as there were large rocks to use to get more grip. Eventually I made it to a section known as the Sharks Tooth which was the most exposed part and was very cold and windy, but I made it to the crater on the top of the mountain, although I didn't reach the true 2518m summit as it was an unmarked route with high winds and little visibility so I would have risked getting lost. I would have been breaking Maori laws going there anyway as it's a sacred place to them.

I soon dropped into the crater where it was far more sheltered and had lunch. The crater itself has a permanent ice field which I walked round and explored. I didn't go too far though as visibility was poor and I didn't want to get lost! After lunch I dropped back down as it was getting cold, and the descent was as steep and challenging as the ascent. It was when I reached the loose scoria slopes after the big rocks where I had the biggest issues keeping my footing as the ground was just giving way but I made it back to the Tahurangi Lodge in one piece. From the lodge the Maketawa Hut was within an hours walk, although the cloud had set in and it was drizzling again. I made it to the hut by mid afternoon and there were 5 other people there and they already had the woodburner going which was a welcome surprise! 

Within a couple of hours of reaching the hut the rain well and truly set in and it was just persistently raining all through the night. In the morning it was a little bit better although the area was completely in the cloud. I was only an hours walk from the visitor centre where I started and was debating returning there, although I stuck with my original plan of walking towards Dawson Falls. To get there I followed the Curtis Falls track which was incredibly overgrown and had several heavily eroded sections which made progress slow. I was hoping to see Curtis Falls itself which would have required a detour walking up a stream although it wasn't signposted and the fact I crossed several streams meant I didn't know which one it was.

I eventually reached the Stratford Mountain House Inn, and when getting there was an absolute drowned rat as the overgrown path meant the bushes soaked me battling through them, and it was raining pretty heavily too. I was tempted to just bail out here and go to the pub, although I continued on towards Dawson Falls, heading through what they call the goblin forest. After a few more stream crossings including a wobbly swingbridge I made it to the Wilkies Pools. It was so cloudy I could barely see them though! From there it wasn't long until I reached the 18m high Dawson Falls.

After leaving the falls I headed to the visitor centre where I was able to dry off a bit. As the rain was pretty heavy I looked round the centre which showcased the history of Taranaki and all the walks in area, before heading to the nearby cafe. Eventually the rain cleared somewhat so I made the decision to start trying to return to New Plymouth. I had difficulties hitching a ride however as the road was very quiet, although I eventually got a ride to Midhirst. The rain well and truly set in here and I had no choice but to shelter in this garage while it passed over. It didn't, but luckily someone eventually rescued me and took me back to the front door of the hostel. It was torrential rain as you could barely see anything out of the front windscreen when driving. It was nice to get dry and clean again when back in New Plymouth!