Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Steps assist you much of the way, and less than one hour after entering the trees you bottom
out at Rangiwahia Track, only a few minutes east of the car park.
TARARUA FOREST PARK
North of Wellington is a place where the wind whips along the sides of mountains and the
fog creeps silently in the early morning. It's a place where gales blow through steep river
gorges, snow falls on sharp, greywacke (grey sandstone) peaks and rain trickles down nar-
row ridges. This is Tararua Forest Park, the largest conservation park managed by DOC on
the North Island.
The park is centred on the Tararua Range, which stretches 80km from the Rimutaka
Saddle in the south, north to the Manawatu Gorge, a natural gap that separates the Tararuas
from the Ruahine Range. The tallest peak is Mitre (1571m), but there are many other peaks
close to that height throughout the park. The ridges and spurs above the bushline are
renowned for being narrow, steep and exposed.
Only 50km from Wellington, the park used to be popular largely with weekend trampers
from the windy city. Today, trampers from around the country are attracted to the Tararuas'
broken terrain and sheer features, which present a challenge to even the most experienced.
The park has an extensive network of tracks, routes and huts, most accessible from the
main gateways of Otaki Forks in the west (off State Hwy 1), and Holdsworth and Waiohine
Gorge on the eastern, Wairarapa side.
These tracks are not as well formed as those in most national parks so it's easy to lose
them; they are mostly of 'tramping track' and 'route' standard. On the open ridge tops there
are rarely signposts or poles marking the routes, only the occasional cairn. The tramps de-
scribed in this section are less demanding than most routes through the Tararuas, and are
therefore undertaken by a greater number of trampers.
History
Although the range was probably too rugged for any permanent Maori settlements, the local
Maori did establish several routes through it to the west coast. It was Maori guides who led
JC Crawford to the top of Mt Dennan in 1863, the first recorded European ascent in the
range. From the 1860s to the late 1880s, prospectors struggled over the ridges and peaks in
search of gold, but little was ever found.
