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Reports......Karangahake
Mountain
Date: 9 August 2009
Leader: Mary Cooper
I have done many of the walks in the Karangahake Gorge but have not
ever been to the top of Karangahake Mountain. When tramping I am
always keen to go where the views are so when I saw the trip coming
up I gave Mary a call. As I had planned to stay at my son’s place on
the weekend in Ngaruawahia I arranged to meet at the Karangahake
Gorge car park. I worked out how long it would take me to get to the
gorge by the back roads. I forgot to allow for contingences like
cows. I was on time till almost to Paeroa when I got held up by a
big herd of dairy cows. I was just a couple of minutes late and the
group had started. I called Mary on her mobile and after a short
delay we were on our way.
The weather had been dry for the past week so the track was mostly
dry except for short sections with a little mud which were easy to
get around. The track was an easy climb for most of the way. The day
was overcast but quite mild. We did not realise how windy it was
till we stopped at a lookout where we were going to have morning
tea. We got some lovely views but decided to go to a more sheltered
place for our morning tea.
We then carried on to a repeater station which was near the summit.
We had some nice views but nearly got blown off so we did not stay
long. We then carried on to the trig on top of the next hill about
twenty minutes away. After a little while downhill we had a short
steep climb to the summit. Fortunately we were able to enjoy the
view as we did not have near as much wind. The view was good but if
the clouds had lifted it would have been fantastic. I understand on
a clear day one can see Mount Taranaki.
I would love to do this tramp again on a clear day and recommend it
to anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. The summit is 544m but
the climb is gradual except for the last 10 minutes. The return trip
around the mountain has some more nice views as well as some old
mine sites.
Chuck Bird
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