Walking to the peak of Mt Pirongia

My friend John and I talked about going out for a long walk a few times earlier. One day on 26 January 2002 we decided to walk to the Mt Pirongia peak (959 m).

With short preparation like putting walking shoes on, taking water bottle and camera we took off from Wheturangi road, Auckland in John’s car.

On the way John informed me thatMaori heritage sites were relevant after Bombay Hill. We stopped at Huntly for a break. He showed where the Maori Queen lived. After looking around a bit we continued towards our destination.

We took Taupiri Road towards Ngaruawahia then continued on SH39 which after changing a couple of times finally ended on Grey Road which terminated in a Car Park on the outskirts of the Pirongia Forest Park (PFP).

There were some facilities like PFP Lodge, Information Shelter and toilet etc. After taking our water bottles and cameras we set out on the track to Mahaukura Track leaving Mangakara Nature Walk to our right side.

Time was about 09:30am. Neither of us were familiar with the area we walked on but followed the track markers and the information provided at the information shed.

At first the track started as a gravel Right: View of the Waikato Basin from Mt Pirongia Peak.

road but soon it narrowed to a walking track which kept climbing up, up up. The track passed through a lot of tree ferns and other trees.

At places some tree roots were protruding out on the track, which often times hindered our pace of walking.

When you can peep out through the trees or bush you see very nice scenery of Waikato basin on one side and on the other side a hill range including Tirohanga peak etc.

When we reached first lookout point, Wharauroa (820 m) we needed to catch our breath and hydrate ourselves a bit. We also did not want to miss the scenery around us as well. It was nice to spend a few minutes and take photos.

Then we pushed on upward. We had to cover the distance. At such times I remember the adage “Slow and steady wins the race”. This is a “Mantra” for all walk through mountains.

One of the obvious deceptions is that you think the peak is approaching and when you get there you see another one above that.

Such up and down walk continues through undulating hill ridges. At some places the track is quite narrow and it was difficult to find the track markers. In other instances the stiff climb was facilitated by the chain bolted on the slant rocky surface.

At many places where water drainage was poor it was muddy and slowed down our pace of walk. I tried to avoid stepping in the mud by hopping and jumping through the relatively drier side.

Although lush green vegetation cover is very pleasing, one can’t help noticing possum damaged trees, here and there.

Later we learnt that the pest control measures had been applied. One major Above left: Mike on route to Mahaukura.