The Pouakai Summit is an incredibly rewarding day hike in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. This walk has native forest, alpine tussock, and views that you’ll dream about.
I love walking in the Pouakai range of Egmont National Park. This range has some truly great day walks, including the Pouakai Tarns and Henry’s Peak. Here is one more walk that you can add to your list of must do hikes in the area. The Pouakai summit is the highest point in the Pouakai range and has incredible 360 degree views.
Pouakai Summit Day Hike Highlights And Logistics
Highlights – Lovely native forest, fantastic views, strolling across tussock, summit of Pouakai range.
Location – End of Mangorei Road to access Mt. Egmont National Park in the Taranaki region of the North Island.
Length Of Walk – About 16 km round trip; 6 hours
Difficulty – Moderate
Elevation – Mangorei road trailhead 500 m;Pouakai summit 1,400 m.
About The Pouakai Summit Day Hike
This walk starts at the end of Mangorei road where a nice, new car park has been built making parking easy. The first section of this walk is along a gravel road before you get into the park itself with the shade of the forest. The first 20 minutes of so of the walk is a gradual uphill.
The next section of the trail is a long climb up a well made trail in the forest. Keep your eyes and ears open as you will see and hear many native forest birds. The last time I did this walk I saw 5 titipounamu (rifleman), New Zealand’s smallest bird.
An hour and a half to two hours after starting the walk you will pass Pouakai hut and arrive at a small plateau. From the plateau you will have awesome views of Mt. Taranaki, which looms huge in front of you.
The trail then begins the fun, meandering walk across open tussock along the tops of the Pouakai range. This is among my favorite type of walking – open country where you can see far into the distance along the tops of mountains. From the hut to the summit is one hour with a mixture of steep sections and some flattish sections.
My Insiders Tips
This walk can be done as a day hike or it can simply be a fun detour off the Pouakai Crossing or Pouakai Circuit. The junction leading to the Pouakai summit or Pouakai trig is sign posted and located between Pouakai Hut and Holly Hut.
Once you leave the main trail and begin the side detour to the trig the trail is often muddy and has standing water. This is a short section and soon opens up into beautiful tussock, so push through this bad section.