Mount Taranaki Hike

Welcome back to a new episode of Britta's nonsense on the mountain. 

After spending another day at the campsite due to the weather not being favorable for hiking, I decided to take the plunge the next day and embark on the multi-hour hike to the reflection tarns. And already in the morning, I didn't regret my decision to wait, as I woke up to a stunning view of the Mount. 

So I got ready and started walking. The track is designed similarly to the one at Wilkies Pool for water and rain as it consists almost entirely of wooden planks, which is why it wasn't as muddy as expected. Additionally, the track is mostly made up of stairs. This makes the hike faster but also more strenuous on the way up. Moreover, 2/3 of the path was within the bush area, so I was particularly excited to see the sun when I reached the last third. 

Once I reached the highest point, I had the perfect view of the Mount and then walked a bit downhill to the reflection pools. 

Upon reaching the tarns, unfortunately, there was a bit too much wind, and Taranaki didn't really reflect, but the outlines were definitely recognizable. Of course, I wanted to get a great photo of myself with the tarns and the mountain in the background. So I politely asked if one of the other hikers could take a photo, and suddenly we were a whole group taking pictures of each other. However, I have to say that since I was the first, I didn't get the best shots. I only realized this when I was back down and I definitely didn't want to hike back up again. 

Luckily, I also played around a bit on the small plateau and took a few extra photos. Here are some of those snapshots:

I definitely had a lot of fun, and after so much fun, I headed back to Fridolin-Christopher and then made my way towards New Plymouth and a hot shower. 

I'll share more about my tour on the west coast of the North Island in the next post. 

Your Britta