Combining the Round the Mountain Loop and Summit Climb into an Epic Trip
29/01/18 – 31/01/18
Mt Taranaki
Mt Taranaki (also known as Mt Egmont), is a 2400m high dormant volcano, sitting alone on the south western corner of North Island. There are different types of hikes you can do, including a day climb up to the Mt Taranaki summit, or several multi-day hikes. There is one I chose to do called ‘Round the Mountain’, and planned to stay in Syme Hut. It is recommended as a 3-4 day hike, but I was aiming for 3 days. I camped in a carpark by the water in New Plymouth the night before – surprisingly quite awesome with many other car/van travellers.
Day 1 – North Egmont Visitor Centre to Kahui Hut
There is the option to camp or stay in huts, and I chose to not take my tent, and instead either stay in the hut bunks, or just cowboy camp wherever. After purchasing two hut tickets from the visitor centre for $5 each (still need to pay if camping – honour system), I set off along the north eastern slopes of the volcano.
The first section was straightforward uphill and was fairly well maintained trail all the way to Holly Hut. This is usually the first night camp, but it only took about 3 hours to reach, so it turned out to be a lunch spot and I pushed on.
Bells Falls was the next stop, and I chose to skinny dip here in the refreshingly cool pools 😀. The waterfall was pretty damn nice.
From here in the trail was fairly rough and overgrown, in a good way. It’s not overly traversed and I didn’t meet any hikers after Holly Hut. There are a lot of Rocky stream crossings and climbing up roots and up and down steep ladders. This hike is not for the causal hiker. It’s gnarly in parts!
Kahui Hut
I ended up arriving at Kahui Hut at around 6pm. The hut was a standard basic one, but it was awesome. Around an hour later, another French girl rocked up, us two being the only hikers here for the night.
Day 2 – Kahui Hut to Syme Hut
The days intentions were to hike from Kahui Hut to Syme Hut, which was on a lower peak just below the summit of Mt Taranaki. This was going to be a big day, and I had backup alternate plans if I didn’t make it thankfully. Leaving the hut at 7:45am, it was 300m of easy downhill and then traversing the outskirts of the mountain through the forest as the day before.
Along the trail I passed a British couple coming the opposite way and discussed some trail conditions. Shortly after, I came across a girl who was in mid-pee right in from of me just off the trail, and we both experienced that awkward ‘oh shit’ moment 😆. After the awkwardness passed we ended up chatting for about half hour about hikes we’d done and trips etc. She was from Italy and super nice – sadly hiking the opposite direction to me – bummer! 😕
I arrived at Waiaua Gorge Hut at around 10:30am. It was a damn nice hut. A level above the one I slept in the previous night. From her, there is a nice view of the valley opposite.
Along the trail there are often steep step ladders when they valleys are too steep to boulder up or climb – right after the hut is a near vertical ladder! Was pretty cool.
From here only you start to head up the mountain, heading towards the summit metre by metre. At first the climb was gradual and still forested, but eventually it opened up as I was nearing the alpine layer. It was around here I met three older kiwi men in there late 60’s (possibly early 70’s) heading down the mountain. I thought it was amazing to see these retired guys still ‘tramping’ (what kiwis call hiking). It gave me hope I have another 30-40 years in me yet 😄.
The next section was hiking below a sheer cliff face and then into a tufted grass area of undulating dry river crossings. I found this section tough as I became weary from so much uphill. Thankfully, the clouds rolled over the hills and it cooled me off a little. I was hot and sweating to the point where my clothes were soaked. There was also no water from Waiaua Gorge Hut as I found out from the guys. I still had 1L by this point so it was ok – just had to be sparing.
After reaching a high point where the trail started to go downhill again, I consulted Backcountry Navigator – my GPS topo map app. I discovered I had roughly 3km of slight downward trail, inky to head back up again at the junction to Syme Hut. I decided to take a shortcut by cutting straight up the slope to Fanthams Peak (1966m) which is pretty much where the hut is too.
The slope was quite steep, but the grass and mossy slope amongst some volcanic rock made it quite accessible. I was so exhausted by this point, that I could only do small sections before catching my breath. It took just over an hour to get to the top and arrive at the hut at 4:30pm.
Syme Hut
Syme Hut is awesome for such a small place. It has a toilet outside, tank water with a sink, beds to fit around 10-12 people, and a seating area. It’s a further 550m roughly to the summit if Mt Taranaki, which I planned to hike straight up to (not an official trail).
Two young Austrian girls arrived at the last a little later on, and we shared conversation of our journeys over well earned feeds. They were only doing an overnight stay here, but were also intending on summiting tomorrow morning.
All in all today, altitude-wise, I hiked down some 300m and up about 1400m, not including the steep river ravines. All on rough gnarly trail. I’d say sleep is on the cards. Not before a beautiful sunset though. We all had a rewarding evening before bed.
Day 3 – Syme Hut to Mt Taranaki Summit
The winds howling outside prevented a full sleep, but enough was had. All three of us began the final 550 metre accent up to the summit of Mt Taranaki.
The scree slope was tough, and we felt like we were going backwards as much as forwards. I drifted off towards the right side when a firm rock outcrop was, and was relived to be able to just climb up that. The girls saw my deviation and followed. After that is was fast smooth rock scrambling up to the lower summit.
Mt Taranaki Summit
There was a kind of bowl section, perhaps an ancient caldera, that had sections of snow inside still. In winter this peak is meant to look amazing with a snow cap due to its sheer conical shape, but in mid summer it only has patches of snow.
We had a final short climb over some snow and rocks and we were there, the summit of Mt Taranaki/Egmont! It was glorious and a real victory. We started to see a few day hikers arrive from the northern side too. These guys actually had a harder climb than us for the day, so you had to hand it to them.
The girls and I parted ways, as they went back down the Syme Hut way (their car was at a different carpark), and I went down the way the day hikers came up back down to the Northern Visitor Centre, where I had started out.
I even saw a solo female hiker heading up – Deb, the girl I met on trail the day before. She was struggling up, bit so close it was a certain finish when I saw her. We exchanged contact information after some more conversation and pressed on. I like that girl 😊 Hope we meet again.
I felt so sorry for all the hikers coming up as I was scree skiing down with ease. One guy coming up even had gloves on, as you need to crawl up one slope it’s that unstable – he forgot glasses though and his eyes were full of dust.
It took an eternity to reach the bottom – perhaps 3 hours. One could only imagine how long it would take going up.
Overall, my hike was a hybrid if ‘Round the Mountain’ in combination with ‘The Summit’. I think I chose wisely, and had the beat of both trails. The hike was quite challenging and the trail was not well maintained in some sections, you really got a good taste of backcountry hut hiking here – with only a handle of other multi-day hikers on trail and myself – just perfect. The DOC (Department of Conservation) huts were fantastic, and all had running water and mattress bunks which was awesome.
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