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 .



We also opted to take the side track up to the - 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.