For Wellington anniversary weekend, three friends and I decided on a long weekend mission to Mt Egmont National Park. The original plan was to complete the Pouakai Circuit on the Saturday and Sunday, drive around the mountain to the Dawson Falls and walk up to Syme Hut Sunday night and then on Monday, head up to the summit and back out before driving home. A packed schedule for sure, but an epic one!
The weather forecast wasn't too flash in the days leading up to the weekend though, and shortly before arriving in Stratford from Wellington we saw that the South side of the mountain was clear and sunny, while it was raining on the North side and in Stratford.
So over lunch in Stratford, we changed plans so we could walk in the sun rather than the rain for the afternoon. So we drove to Dawson Falls and headed to Lake Dive Hut.
Lake Dive Hut is a straightforward 3 hour walk from the Dawson Falls Visitor centre (via the Lower Lake Dive track). It's not a bad track, though a bit overgrown. There's plenty of steps, but as the fill in them has eroded, they're mostly just annoying obstacles and the track would be much better off if they were removed.
We arrived at the sprawling Lake Dive Hut to find we had the place to ourselves. Yay! The hut has two separate bunkrooms and a large open area. A very smelly Israeli man later arrived, but thankfully he took the other bunkroom.
We checked out the small but serene Lake Dive nearby, and if you stand in the shallow water of the shore (the lake is completely surrounded by dense bush), you get fantastic views of Mt Taranaki.
The next morning, we took the upper Lake Dive track and headed up to Syme Hut. It's steep going, but the views improve with each step and it wasn't long before we were amongst the tussock and we could see right across Southern Taranaki to Wanganui. The track sidles the mountain before joining the track coming directly up from Dawson Falls. From there, there's a few steps and then a long, very steep scree bash up to Syme Hut. The scree bit takes a bit over an hour, for a total of 2.5-3hrs from Lake Dive to Syme Hut.
Syme Hut occupies a barren, flat platform 2,000m up Mt Taranaki. It has fantastic views and it almost feels as though you're on Mars.
The plan for the afternoon was to climb Mt Taranaki. It's about a 3-4 hour steep return trip from the hut, and climbing the mountain from this (the Southern side) is much more steep and difficult than the main route, from the North Egmont visitor centre.
Half our group wanted to climb it in the morning and the other half that afternoon. Although it was clear, it was very windy and the top of the mountain had decided to start clouding in a bit, so with better weather forecasted for the next morning, the morning won out.
So we had a lazy afternoon in the hut, having a great time reading, playing cards and being stupid. Later in the afternoon, it completely clouded it, started raining and the winds picked up. Our dreams of an epic sunset went out the window, but it did feel very cosy being inside the little hut while the weather buffeted it outside. Just as the final bit of light was about to disappear from the sky, the clouds parted for a bit and we popped outside to check out the lights of the Taranaki towns below and to get some photos.
The next morning, the cloud and high winds were back, so we abandoned the planned climb and had a ball sliding down the mountain on the scree that we'd so painstakingly scaled the day before. I'd previously climbed Mt Taranaki from the Northern side so wasn't too disappointed about not getting to the top this time. It took us about two hours to get down to the Dawson Falls carpark.
But I will be back to knock off the Pouakai circuit, which has been on the to do list for a very long time!
The weather forecast wasn't too flash in the days leading up to the weekend though, and shortly before arriving in Stratford from Wellington we saw that the South side of the mountain was clear and sunny, while it was raining on the North side and in Stratford.
So over lunch in Stratford, we changed plans so we could walk in the sun rather than the rain for the afternoon. So we drove to Dawson Falls and headed to Lake Dive Hut.
Lake Dive Hut is a straightforward 3 hour walk from the Dawson Falls Visitor centre (via the Lower Lake Dive track). It's not a bad track, though a bit overgrown. There's plenty of steps, but as the fill in them has eroded, they're mostly just annoying obstacles and the track would be much better off if they were removed.
We arrived at the sprawling Lake Dive Hut to find we had the place to ourselves. Yay! The hut has two separate bunkrooms and a large open area. A very smelly Israeli man later arrived, but thankfully he took the other bunkroom.
We checked out the small but serene Lake Dive nearby, and if you stand in the shallow water of the shore (the lake is completely surrounded by dense bush), you get fantastic views of Mt Taranaki.
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| Standing in Lake Dive with Mt Taranaki in the background |
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| Mt Taranaki near sunrise |
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| View on the way up to Syme Hut |
Syme Hut occupies a barren, flat platform 2,000m up Mt Taranaki. It has fantastic views and it almost feels as though you're on Mars.
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| Syme Hut |
Half our group wanted to climb it in the morning and the other half that afternoon. Although it was clear, it was very windy and the top of the mountain had decided to start clouding in a bit, so with better weather forecasted for the next morning, the morning won out.
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| Syme Hut in the evening |
So we had a lazy afternoon in the hut, having a great time reading, playing cards and being stupid. Later in the afternoon, it completely clouded it, started raining and the winds picked up. Our dreams of an epic sunset went out the window, but it did feel very cosy being inside the little hut while the weather buffeted it outside. Just as the final bit of light was about to disappear from the sky, the clouds parted for a bit and we popped outside to check out the lights of the Taranaki towns below and to get some photos.
The next morning, the cloud and high winds were back, so we abandoned the planned climb and had a ball sliding down the mountain on the scree that we'd so painstakingly scaled the day before. I'd previously climbed Mt Taranaki from the Northern side so wasn't too disappointed about not getting to the top this time. It took us about two hours to get down to the Dawson Falls carpark.
But I will be back to knock off the Pouakai circuit, which has been on the to do list for a very long time!
