The Kapakapanui Circuit is easily achievable given a spare 24 hours—a perfect candidate for a serious day walk or overnight tramp. As a loop it has the advantage that scenery is ever-changing and there’s no need to retrace your steps or fuss around with transport.
A version of this account of the Kapakapanui Circuit was first published by Wilderness Magazine (October 2021).
Kapakapanui Circuit, Tararua Forest Park
My culinary advisor and I set off after dinner for a night in Kapakapanui Hut, walking clockwise—the most direct route to the hut. The track begins leisurely with a fifteen minute stroll up the Ngatiawa River. There are seven river crossings in quick succession, but on was a warm summer’s evening I was glad of the cooling water. Poles were useful, as the water was knee-deep and a little swift in places.
The fun begins immediately after the last ford—400 metres of vertical climb in less than two kilometres. A lookout halfway up has good views of Kāpiti Island and is a great place to pause and appreciate your surroundings. It’s a bit of a gut-buster until the track eases onto a spur covered in beech and mamaku, providing some respite yet still climbing.
We made Kapakapanui Hut in under three hours. The hut was built by the Kāpiti branch of the NZ Deerstalkers Association and given a good spruce-up by their dedicated volunteers in 2019. The result is a homely place to sleep. A large lean-to, stacked with firewood, leads to a spacious hut with plenty room to swing a possum. Six bunks are lined top-and-tail against the wall, with exceptionally comfortable mattresses.
A flick through the hut book reveals many use the hut as a lunch stop on a day trip. While I understand the temptation of not hauling a pack up and down the hill, we were rewarded with a hut to ourselves and a night perfect for stargazing—a night so still that you could’ve heard a pin drop. From the clearing surrounding the hut we gazed at a low-hanging topaz moon among a sea of stars, while a series of satellites emerged from and disappeared into darkness.
The summit (1,102m) is one hour beyond the hut. Along the way the track passes through the most exquisite goblin forest, perhaps the highlight of the trip. The morning sunlight and mist filtering through the stunted mossy trees had a truly otherworldly effect. Climbing higher still, the track breaks the bushline and Kapakapanui’s long, near-flat summit ridge, makes for welcome easy travel.
Mount Kapakapanui is an outlier in the Tararuas, roughly halfway between the Tasman Sea and the main range. I had eagerly anticipated the panorama over the Kāpiti Coast, Manawatū, and maybe as far as Taranaki Mounga. It was not to be. Overnight, a layer of thick fog had snuck deep into the valleys, hugging the mountainside and obscuring much of our view. Occasionally this would break to reveal the silhouettes of Mount Hector and its neighbouring peaks rising, to borrow my culinary advisor’s words, “like a mist dragon.”
It’s a steep descent that took another three and half hours. You’re in the bush the whole way but there are plenty of opportunities to rest ever-weary muscles with convenient distractions—a fallen tree to ‘walk the plank’, curious fungi that looked like turmeric sponges, and inquisitive riflemans.
Despite its brevity, Kapakapanui is a solid tramp. I was pleased to have dry conditions as it was plain to see what a slurry the becomes with a bit of rain. For those in need of a quick and invigorating ‘outdoors fix’, then the Kapakapanui Circuit is a memorable option that punches well above its weight.
Need to know
Access: From Waikanae, follow the signs towards Akatarawa. At Reikorangi, turn left on to Ngatiawa Road and drive 4km to the road end. Kapakapanui Hut is $5 per night.
Grade: Moderate/Difficult
Time: 6-8 hours
Distance: 16km
Total ascent: 994m
Map: BP32 Paraparaumu, BP33 Featherston
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