The view looking east over Kāpiti Island from the Kapakapanui Summit. Photo / Rosalie Willis
The view looking east over Kāpiti Island from the Kapakapanui Summit. Photo / Rosalie Willis
Glistening through the gaps in the trees, the sun cast light on the path as it opened up into a clearing full of moss and ferns.
Reminiscent of a magical glade that wouldn't have been out of place in Joanna Spyri's Heidi, or the Oscar Wilde classic, The SelfishGiant, I can only describe the scene along the Kapakapanui Track as magical.
At this point, we're three-quarters of the way up Kapakapanui and the spot is a beautiful place to take a break, however, the climb upwards is not a walk in the park.
Kapakapanui is an isolated minor peak in the Tararua Range with 360-degree views from the top.
The Kapakapanui Track is magical regardless of what the weather is doing. Photo / Rosalie Willis
At 1102m elevation, the summit's view spans across the whole of the Kāpiti Coast, the Southern Crossing, the Akatarawa forest and has a surprise at the top — Mt Taranaki poking out above the clouds.
Doing the walk one year ago nearly to the day, that time the day was drizzly and foggy.
While this made the hike feel wild and magical as we reached the goblin forest, the fog created an eerie feeling. This time around, it was one of awe.
The goblin forest, commonly found in the Tararua Ranges in areas of 800m-1000m elevation, is made up of knobbly and gnarly trees knotted together overhanging and entangled with moss, lichen and epiphytes.
The walk up until this point had been eventful. With the Department of Conservation website saying to allow six to eight hours and the walk being all uphill and then all downhill, we knew it would take a marathon effort to reach the top.
Knobbly and gnarly trees knotted together overhanging and entangled with moss, lichen and epiphytes on the Kapakapanui Track. Photo / Rosalie Willis
We started about 8.30am, with the temperature on our car showing it was just 5C outside.
The walk starts with nine river crossings as you walk through the valley, before heading uphill for a solid two to three hours of climbing.
We decided to take our shoes off for the crossings despite the icy temperature so we could have dry feet for the rest of the walk. However we couldn't remember how many crossings there were, so we put our shoes back on after about seven.
About 30m later we arrive at another crossing … and then another soon after.
Note to self for next time: don't put shoes back on until you've been heading uphill for at least 10 minutes.
Enjoying the river crossings at the end of the Kapakapanui Track. Photo / Tessa Willis
The next three hours were a monumental effort using the whole body to climb up parts of the track.
We pulled ourselves up using tree branches and roots making it a true climb, not just a walk.
Making it to the Kapakapanui Hut was a relief. But there's still another half an hour to reach the summit.
It's amazing what sunlight can do. The hut looked appealing and a great place to stay overnight with sunlight streaming in — a contrast from the previous time I came up where it looked dark and dingy on the dreary day we had.
Onwards we proceeded. With such a climb a number of stops were expected, along with a fair amount of complaining.
Kapakapanui Hut. Photo / Rosalie Willis
Finally, we reached the top, after about three hours of walking.
The views were incredible whichever way we looked.
Especially special was seeing Mt Taranaki poking its head up from above the clouds, not something which is visible every day. To the west was Kāpiti Island standing proud and tall, with the stunning Tararua Ranges to the east.
Looking out at the vastness of the ranges, it was here that I realised the enormity of the climb we had just done.
While 1102m might not seem that high, the summit towers above the Kāpiti district and is one of the toughest day hikes I've done (harder than the Tongariro Crossing and up there with Mt Taranaki because of its steepness).
The view of the Tararua Ranges from Kapakapanui Summit. Photo / Rosalie Willis
The way down is no easier and having had a week of blue skies leading up to our hike, the ground is dry, making the dirt loose.
Parts of it we were able to jog down, taking a few risks with footing, but other parts we pulled out the glamorous bum shuffle.
The way back took about two hours, long enough to make me miss the uphill.
With our thighs and hamstrings seizing up, tense from treading carefully, we eventually made it back down to the river crossings, and this time enjoyed splashing our way through them, the ice-cold water bringing relief to our feet.
The Kapakapanui Track. Photo / Rosalie Willis
After spending more time than needed walking through the river to refresh our muscles, we made it back to the car, five hours and 45 minutes after we started.
It was a magical climb, with stunning views and a great sense of achievement all around.
