Egmont National Park around Mount Taranaki is easily the number one place to visit in the Taranaki region, with numerous short and multi-day hikes.
In this blog, we focus on the short walks around Dawson Falls, which make for a great introduction to the national park’s goblin rain forest. To get there, drive to the eastern side of Mount Taranaki for an access road to Dawson Falls.
Dawson Falls visitor centre
Dawson Falls visitor centre and mountain lodge provide a stunning viewpoint of Egmont National Park. From the top of the road there are great views of Mount Taranaki and Fanthams Peak – the lower peak south of Taranaki – and there are several short walking and hiking options starting at the visitor centre.
Dawson Falls Track
The first walking track is to Dawson Falls, which is an easy hour-long loop. It’s a short walk back down the access road, then into the forest to the waterfalls. From the falls you can loop back to the visitor centre, and it’s also possible to clamber down to the Kapuni Stream above the falls and access the waterfall at the top.
Wilkie Pools Track
From the visitor centre, take the track signposted for Wilkie Pools. This is a well-surfaced, easy walk which takes you along the Kapuni Stream to reach the pools. There’s an exceedingly pretty series of small falls and pools that tumble down the side of the mountain. From the pools, take the fork for the Ridge Loop Track to the return to the visitor centre – it’s about forty minutes to the pools and an hour to come back via the loop track.
The Wilkie Pools track can become busy, with its combination of easy walking, beautiful rainforest and the pools. The day we did it, the area was shrouded in mist which made for eerie photos and fewer walkers.
Goblin Forest
On each of these walks, you get an intense sense of the “goblin forest” around Mount Taranaki – twisted and gnarled beech trees covered in lichens and mosses. As we did these walks in early summer when it was wet, the combination of rain forest, waterfalls and streams added to the drama.
Flora of Mount Taranaki
Early summer is also a good time to capture various examples of the native flowers around the forest. Although the native tree fuchsia and daisies are reasonably commonplace, several of the others were novel to us.
