The Pouakai Circuit is an epic adventure just to the north of Mt Taranaki, in Egmont National Park. It's recommended as a 2-3 tramp but can also be a trail run if you're keen.

Not all of the track is actually runnable so we ended up doing a bit of scrambling over the volcanic rocks, climbing some steep stairs, and then navigating tree roots through the bush section. Bring good shoes!

There's heaps of variation on this circuit: volcanoes, forest, tussock and swampland. At some points you can even see right out to the coast. But the highlight for us had to be the views of Mt Taranaki at the Pouakai Reflective Tarn.

We also opted to take the side track up to the Pouakai Summit - a pretty tough climb but absolutely worth it! From here we got some even more epic views of Taranaki.





Be sure to have a map downloaded and follow the signposts carefully - sounds dumb but we were a bit geographically challenged at the end, which resulted in a bonus 1km detour! Altogether it took us a bit under 7 hours. Hard yakka, but a day well spent.