Celebrate New Year with an overnight hike in Pirongia regional park
Details
Greetings everyone,
Let's celebrate 2026 with this challenging and rewarding hike in Pirongia forest park. Pirongia forest park offers great nature, views of Kamai ranges and it offers a true outdoor hiking experience.
Note: This is a 2 day event, which includes an overnight stay at Pahautea hut. The hut must be booked online. So far they have 14 spaces available on Thursday night.
Here is the link to book:
https://bookings.doc.govt.nz/Web/Default.aspx#!park/846/
Summary:
Tracks we are going to cover: We are going to do a loop, on Thursday we will do Mangakara nature walk, Link track and Ruapane track. It should take approx 6 hours for us to reach the hut, walking at a moderate pace with little stops.
Difficulty: Moderate, 3.5 this is proper hiking, challenging terrain, lot's of climbing, and high elevation gain. Elevation gain total up to 600 m...
Time: Thursday hike will take 6 hours, Friday hike will take 5-6 hours, that is hiking at a moderate pace with little stops.
Terrain: hiking trails.
On Friday we will come down via Mahaukura track which takes 4-6 hrs and is approx 9 to 10 km in distance.
This track lead to Wharauroa Lookout (850 m) with one of the best views from Mount Pirongia of Hamilton, Te Awamutu and the surrounding landscape. Further on, Mahaukura Lookout (902 m) has further views south toward the King Country.
From Grey Road car park, follow the track to Wharauroa Lookout then on for another 30 min to Mahaukura. The track undulates over small peaks and is uneven underfoot.
From Mahaukura, the track descends steeply before climbing again towards Pirongia summit viewing tower. There are climbing chains on difficult parts of the track.
### Tirohanga to Mahaukura round trip
Time: 8–11 hr return
Distance: 17 km
This is a popular round trip for people overnighting at Pāhautea Hut. Cross from Grey Road car park to Ruapane via the Mangakara Nature Walk and Link Track then follow the Tirohanga Track to the summit viewing tower. Return via Mahaukura Track to Grey Road. This is the easier circuit rather than doing it the other way round via Mahaukura then Tirohanga.
Ruapane track follows a ridge that becomes steeper as it reaches the junction of the Tirohonga Track.
Continue along Tirohonga Track a short way up a rocky outcrop to reach the Ruapane Trig (723 m).
Plan to leave Auckland around 7.30-7.45 AM, so we will meet at the car park on 297 Grey Road, Pirongia.
Follow this link for map directions:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/t1SVTbqQW5Fhh15s8
We will plan to meet at Grey Road car park at 10.30 AM. So we will start hiking at 10.45 AM. From Auckland CBD, it's just under a 2 hour drive, but it's a good idea to give yourself at least 30 min extra of travel time, so you can stop for a coffee :)
If you require a ride, I suggest $30 to give to your driver. This must be paid in cash before the start of the hike.
What to bring: Sleeping bag, food for 2 days, water, at least 2 Lt, cooking utensils, gas and portable cooker. Hiking gear, hiking shoes, hat, sunblock, wind and rain proof jacket.
See you on Thursday,
Kristina.