My friend and I were up for a climb over Easter weekend so Pirongia was where we headed. Lots of people around Hamilton always talk about Pirongia, a mountain not too far from the city.
We started at the Corcoran Road carpark, about a 30-minute drive from Hamilton and followed the Tirohanga Track up, with the goal of reaching Mt Pirongia Summit.
The track starts off well groomed and with a bunch of stairs (not ideal when we’d both done the Hakarimata Summit the day before and both had sore calf muscles). It definitely gets your heart rate pumping straight away. There’s a bit of a steep rock climb on the way up but from here you start to get a view.
After 45 minutes we reached Ruapane lookout. It’s a little deceiving as it feels like you’ve reached the summit, but you really haven’t. An awesome place for a picnic though, which is what a bunch of other trampers were doing. They pointed in the direction of the summit and told us “it’s about 2 hours away and you can’t actually see it from here” (I’m not sure if this was a good or bad thing).
It took us five and a half hours to get up and down from the Summit, with only a few quick stops. Along the way I definitely learnt a few things.
Lesson number one – Hiking also involves climbing and abseiling. There are a few rock faces on the way to the Pirongia Summit, which were definitely a bit of fun. Chains have been added to help you climb up or down the rock faces. It wasn’t long after we left the Ruapane lookout that we came across these. Some of them are easier than others but it definitely brought back memories of abseiling at school camps when I was younger. I’m not sure how people ever got to the Summit before the chains were added.
The track gets a lot more rugged from here on. It’s not groomed, it’s over grown in most places and it’s covered in tree roots. There isn’t many flat parts at all, you’re either going up or down and quite often holding onto trees for balance on steep or slippery parts.
Getting to the summit you have to go up and down multiple peaks. We took a bunch of lollies and chocolate with us, along with a bag of Gu Chomps. This was the perfect snack for added energy and every time we reached a peak, we’d grab a handful. Although we had enough food, we probably didn’t take enough water. Lesson number two – carry more water than you’ll ever need. It’s amazing how thirsty you get when it’s muggy and you’re hiking in the bush.
Always, always take a rain jacket, even when there’s clear blue skies and sunny when you leave your house. This was lesson number three. It’s true what they say, be prepared for the worst. When the rain started coming in ten minutes before we reached the summit I thought about my perfectly good and waterproof Marmot rain jacket hanging in my wardrobe at home. I really wish I had taken it with me.
Just because you’ve hiked for three hours doesn’t mean the weather is going to play ball and actually give you a view from the top.
The first point we reached, Ruapane lookout, there was a stunning view of rural Waikato. We knew we still had two hours to go and I thought the view from the top would be a lot better, so I didn’t take in the view anywhere near as much as I should have (nor did we take any photos).
When we finally reached the summit and climbed the last few steps of the viewing platform, all we could see was mist. We definitely had a laugh about it. There was a surreal feeling, knowing we were up so high (959 metres above sea level), in the middle of no where, surrounded by acres and acres of trees and all we could see was twenty metres in front of us.
After a quick lunch break among the mist we started the decent. The way back was a lot more slippery as the rain had really kicked in. The tracks are pretty sheltered, as you’re mostly walking among trees but this didn’t stop the track from getting wet and muddy. I would recommend a walking pole if you had one.
When we reached the chains these were also really slippery. A solo hiker had caught up to us and I was glad she was with us when we got to this part, as it could be quite dangerous if you’re by yourself.
We made it back to the car, pretty stoked with our little adventure, looking forward to a hot coffee on the way home.
I’d definitely recommend Mt Pirongia if you’re looking for a day hike around the Waikato area. It’s a pretty rugged trail and I’d say it would be difficult with kids, especially the rock faces with the chains, but we passed two girls around 10-years-old, conquering it with their parents and they were loving it. There’s also a bunch of different tracks you can take. Maybe next time we’d make it a two day hike and stay at Pahutea Hut, not too far from the Summit.
It’s still on my list to climb Mt Pirongia, on a day when I’m guaranteed to see the view everyone talks about.
See you out there.
AUTHOR
Danielle Conwell
Marketing - Torpedo7
