Te Iringa Track... (abbreviated)...

One of the pluses with my job (and there are lots), is that I travel all around the top part of the North Island and as from quite recently I have 3 trips per year down to Queenstown and Invercargill.

This week saw me in Napier for a night and the next day I knew I had a free day to travel back to Rotorua... a great chance to check out a trail I have been eyeing for a while.

About 27km from Taupo on the Napier Taupo road you will see the sign for Taharua Road, turn down here and proceed until you see Clement's Mill Road... take a right here and carry on to the end of the seal and on into the bush... in summer most vehicles should manage this road with no problems... although it was a bit rutted this week and a 4WD does make you feel more confident. In winter I am guessing a 4WD or AWD would be pretty important.

After a few km's you will see the sign for Te Iringa Track, park here, there is a nice picnic area where the non-runners or early returnees could set up lunch! There is a basic map that gives you most of the required info... interesting to note that this trail is open to MTB's... although it has a Grade 5 rating.




 


I expected a back country rough trail that would involve rugged trails and sometimes a struggle to pick out where the trail is... how wrong was I ... what a fabulous trail.










 




3km of steady climbing, most of it runnable gets you up on top where you get some great views through the trees, there is a stream crossing (right) which in November was not even deep enough to get into my Salomons wet inside.







 


At around 3.5km you come to the clearing where the old Te Iringa Hut used to be... great place for camp or to stop for a bite to eat... otherwise carry on. More great views after that... you can even get some neat views of Lake Taupo nearly 30km away!









This is where the "abbreviated" part comes... I had intended to run about 10km out and then back... however after getting to the trail start I found I had left my backpack at home and while I had food and drink to take with me, I didn't have my first aid kit or my exposure blanket. So when at about 4km the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the sky started to get dark, descretion became more important than valour and I turned back.


 

I figured that the Kaimanawa's were not the place to be caught on my own in rough weather without the right gear. I had of course let my partner know where I was running just in case and had chatted to a DOC worked on the way in.


This trail so impressed me that I will travel back and do a longer version... I may even try to run the 21.5km to the Oamaru Hut and then back... that might be one to drag fellow trail nutters Keith Crook and Steve Neary along with me.