Distance: 25.0 km (9.0 DOC hours) - Unmaintained track - Moderate-hard terrain
Altitude: 1052m to 1600m. Gain: 1806m. Loss: 1972m . Gradient: 9 deg (Moderate)
Skills: Occasional scrambles (3/7) - Streams (2/6)

Unmaintained track (5/9)
Former track, overgrown - markers / ground trail still followable

Secondary, mapped (3/5)
Formal route, on maps, an alternative recognised access to hut or along range / catchment

Moderate (difficulty: 3/5)
Occasional moderate climbs

Moderate-hard (difficulty: 4/5)
Tall, walkable scrub / large rocks, occasional waterfalls or gorges in rivers

Occasional scrambles (difficulty: 3/7)
Tramp with some scrambles and exposure to falls

Streams (difficulty: 2/6)
Small streams, danger only in extreme weather

Unknown (difficulty: 0/7)
Not specified

After a short scramble out of the Akeake Stream, the climb up to the ridges south of the stream is straightforward, over open, weathered ground to pt 1576, swinging to the east over pt 1591 then south from pt 1604 to drop onto the Kaimanawa Forest Park Walkway. Be careful to pick the right spur in the last few hundred metres before the walkway. Note that by this point, and for the length of the walkway to SH1, you are on a narrow strip of public right-of-way between the private Needles Block (leaseholder Helisika) to the north and the restricted army training area to the south. The walkway is not well defined or marked and the area is crisscrossed by army vehicle trails, so keep an eye on your GPS as you go to make sure you don't stray off course.

Note: Described in the reverse direction to your journey

No description