Some adventures don’t always go to plan, and in the seven years I’ve been solo hiking, this one takes the cake! I had been on a road trip in the North Island performing poetry and had a few days up my sleeve in Hamilton before my next gig, so I decided to head to nearby Pirongia Forest. I parked up at the Grey Road car park (by the Pirongia Forest Lodge) with the intention of an overnighter to Pahāutea Hut via Tirohanga Track then walking out on the Maraukura Track the following day. If you want to do the loop, start on the Mangakara Nature Walk from the car park, then look out for the Ruapane Trig Lookout connection track. According to the DoC website, it’s easier to walk-in via Tirohanga Track, and I would have to agree with them.

Pahāutea Hut is about 30 minutes from the 959m Mt. Pirongia summit. Unfortunately there was thick fog at both times I went past, so I don’t have any photos of the views. It’s a 20-bunk bookable hut with several campsites nearby. There are multiple tracks that lead to the hut, so check out the DoC website for up-to-date track conditions. The terrain was often a challenging steep scramble, rooty with glorious thick mud that leads to incredible views (when the fog clears). Being in the middle of winter, the sooner you accept the bog, the quicker you’ll move past it.

There are chains on parts of the track (before and after the trig) - these definitely came in handy as the rocks were slippery from the rain. It took me back to my rock climbing days, and these short legs did have to tap into some short-girl-beta. If you’re a scrambler like me, take extra care that you don’t grab onto the pockets of gorse or cutty grass hiding in the bush - damn, that shizz hurts!

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