Mount Taranaki

My weekend in Egmont National Park was both awesome and disappointing. It was disappointing not to make it to the summit of Mt Taranaki but still an awesome walk, despite the awful weather, with a great group of people. 

I joined a Parawai Tramping Club trip to Mt Taranaki. We travelled up to Stratford on Friday and stayed at the lodge at the Stratford Holiday Park. We popped down to the main street to find takeaway dinner in the evening and Mt Taranaki was clearly visible against a bright blue sky. However the next morning it was cloudy with a mixed weather forecast. We set off from the North Egmont Visitor Centre at about 8.30am and began the slog - up a steep four wheel drive track to Tahurangi Alpine Lodge, then up a rocky gorge, a long flight of stairs and onto the scree slope. The scree didn't seem too bad to start with but after a while it got thicker and looser and it was difficult to take a step without also sliding backwards. Unfortunately the weather was wet and became much windier and colder the higher we went. After climbing about 1000 metres we decided the only safe thing to do was turn back. We were all wet, the wind was strong and as soon as we stopped moving we felt cold. The loose scree wasn't much easier going down. I fell backwards a couple of times but didn't do any damage. A couple of others had scrapes and bumps. The rough scoria could easily graze skin but I had so many layers of clothes on that I didn't get scratched. Next time I would take better gloves - someone suggested gardening gloves which sounds like a great idea. 

We made it back down to Tahurangi Lodge and instead of going directly down the four wheel drive track we took a side route to Maketawa Hut. The track consisted mostly of puddles but our socks and boots were already soaking wet (they squelched as I walked) so it was easier to walk straight through the puddles than try to manoeuvre around them. We had a lucky break at lunch, the sun came out as we sat on the deck so we warmed up and filled up at the same time. The best thing about the Maketawa walk was the lush and beautiful vegetation. It started with shrubs on the higher part of the track then from the hut back to the visitor centre it was dense rainforest, dripping with moisture from the misty rain.