Trails: Kauaeranga Valley Road road end car park – Kauaeranga Kauri Trail (on signpost) or Webb Creek to Hydro Camp Track (on some map) or Webb Creek Track (known by most hiker) to the Moss Creek Track junction – Webb Creek Track to Hydro Camp (Billy Goat Track and Pinnacles Hut track junction) – Hydro Camp to Pinnacles Hut Track until Moss Creek (Campsite) Tramping Track junction – Hydro Camp to Pinnacles Hut Track until the Pinnacles Hut – Pinnacles Hut to The Pinnacles Track – back to Pinnacles Hut – back to Hydro Camp – turn into Billy Goat Track until Kauaeranga Valley Road – car park.
Car Park: Yes. Set “-37.06621, 175.66761” in your GPS. It’s about 120km 90 minutes drive from Auckland city center.
Public Toilet: Yes, Kauaeranga Visitor Centre before roadend car park
Weather: Check Weather before you go!
For better map display, click the buttons (Full Screen, Hide/Show Photos and Back to Center) in the top right corner of the map to study the tracks we took or any other tracks.
Max elevation: 796 m
Min elevation: 157 m
Total climbing: 1251 m
Total descent: -1240 m
Average speed: 4.15 km/h
Total time: 06:12:53
Difficulty Rating: 3.70 – M+
The “Total Time” is my time in December which includes morning tea time and lunch time. That day was fine and the track was good. If you slow down to average 2.8 km/h plus 60 min stop then the total time will be around 7:30 hrs.
Photos on the map. Click opened photo to close.
This was done by Nov. 2020. The Pinnacles Track becomes very popular now!
Max elevation: 719 m
Min elevation: 87 m
Total climbing: 1044 m
Total descent: -1026 m
Average speed: 5.06 km/h
Total time: 04:58:08
Fantastic! We are new to tramping but wanted to do Tongariro Crossing and chose this one for practicing. Our experience was simply fantastic! It was worth doing regardless of Tongariro Crossing! I was exclaiming “Wow!” about every 15 minutes and about every 3 minutes on the piece from the Pinnacles Hut to Pinnacles.
Personally, I really appreciated the high quality of the path because I walked in running shoes. As I understand, most of the track consists of roads made in 1920s, mostly made of stones, and, considering floor detour bridges, the path must be walkable in any weather. However, I am guessing, the stone steps may become slippery. Also, I would certainly refrain from doing the very last part, climbing to the to the very top of Pinnacles when it is raining or windy.
When you become a tramper, you won’t like a high quality track, it’s boring…
That’s true!