Wednesday 8 July 2026
Karangahake Gorge To Te Aroha
From Sunday to Tuesday I led a group tramp from Karangahake Gorge to Te Aroha via Waitawheta Hut in the Kaimai Range. The weather was very wet on the last day but overall we had a great time.
I’ve been to Karangahake before several times to do the “Windows Walk”, a fun short walk through a tunnel in the side of Karangahake Gorge, and other local walks like Mt Karangahake. This time we did the Windows Walk, with its glow-worms and scenic outlook, and then carried on to Dickey Flat and beyond all the way to Daly Clearing Hut. It was all rather delightful — the Waitawheta River gorge is impressive and the weather was cooperative. It took the group about two hours to Dickey Flat (great lunch spot), and another four hours to Daly Clearing Hut at a moderate pace. I hadn’t been tramping for six months and my muscles felt it a bit!
Between the flat and the hut there’s an unbridged crossing of the Waitawheta River. It was quite shallow when we got there, unsurprising since the weather had been mostly dry for weeks. However it was a good opportunity to practice our river crossing skills using the officially recommended mutual support method. It was great fun!
Daly Clearing Hut is an old hut but snug and dry, and we enjoyed our night there. There are sixteen bunks, we had thirteen people, and couple showed up after we got there; fortunately no-one else arrived later so it was a great fit. In the small hours of the morning there was a thunderstorm with thunder and lightning, which I always enjoy.
On Monday we had a pretty easy walk up the Waitawheta Tramway Track to Waitawheta Hut. It mostly follows the river and is mostly very flat thanks to cuttings made for the tramway a hundred years ago, plus a number of classic swingbridges. It took us about four hours altogether, arriving at Waitawheta Hut around midday in time for lunch. Waitawheta Hut is a lovely modern hut, very spacious and with big windows letting in the afternoon sun. We spent the whole afternoon playing Bang! and Saboteur: The Dark Cave, snacking, and generally relaxing. It being winter and getting dark around 5pm, we had dinner pretty early both days. After dinner, a number of us went to see the glow-worms at the back of the hut (where the Waipapa Track starts). That was amazing — a huge overhanging mossy bank studded with glow-worms, the best I’ve seen outside a cave; highly recommended.
Tuesday was a bit of an adventure. The weather forecast was for rain. We had planned to walk west on the Waipapa Track, over the Range to Te Aroha, in particular the Waiorongomai Road car park at the bottom of Waiorongomai Valley. That would be a long hard walk for some of our group, especially in the rain, so we decided to split up. Seven people walked back down Waitawheta Tramway Track out to the end of Franklin Road. The remaining six of us followed the original plan. We left at 8am and it took us about six hours altogether, going at a pretty fast pace. It rained steadily for most of that time so we were soaked by the time we got to the car!
Despite the rain I enjoyed the walk. Waipapa Track is actually very well formed; even in the wet conditions there were only a couple of muddy areas. The only issue we had was at least a dozen tree falls that we had to climb over, under or around. The tracks down into Waiorongomai Valley were also good, and quite interesting with the old mining tramways and inclines. It would be great to go back in good weather and explore a bit more. I’m particularly interested in the Pylon Peak Track and the area along the top of the Range — the views should be good there on a good day (we saw nothing but the inside of a cloud).
We picked up my car that we’d dropped there, drove around to Karangahake, dropped off a few people to take their car back to Auckland, then drove around to the Franklin Road end to pick up the rest of our group, who’d taken about four hours to walk out along the Waitawheta Tramway Track.
Apart from Tuesday’s weather I think it went very well. We had a great group; ages from ten to nearly sixty, and a good mix of backgrounds and experience levels. There aren’t many tramping huts near Auckland, so it was good to check these ones out. Pinnacles Hut is the most popular one in this vicinity, and it probably is a slightly better option if you don’t mind the sheer number of people usually there — you get amazing views up the Pinnacle. But hiking from Frankling Road into Waitawheta Hut and out again is no more difficult and almost as impressive, and you can make it more interesting with an extra night if you take a similar route to ours.
