Solo Walks New Zealand: The Mount Kakepuku Track, Waikato

I was up in the Waikato region of the North Island for work earlier this year (2023) in the little town of Kihikihi. The plan was the work was supposed to take all week, Monday through Friday, so I didn't take any video or hiking gear on the flight thinking there was little chance of using it. Well we finished the work at noon on a Thursday. With the return flight to Christchurch not until Friday evening, I had a lot of unplanned time to explore the area. After a quick Google search to see what was in the area I noticed this small volcano out by itself among farm fields with a trail to its top only 12kms from where I was working. Perfect, I found my unplanned and unknown location to go hike for the rest of that day!

Mount Kakepuku is a small basaltic dome volcano that formed between 2.7 and 2.3 million years ago and is no longer active. More recently the volcano was the site of a number of large ancient Maori pa’s (fortifications) around its summit, now all hidden within the regenerating forest cover. The location is a spot of cultural significance to the Maori people. The modern trail to the summit follows a former farming road for most of the distance.

Since this was a completely unplanned walk, I had to use what I had with me to film this, that being my phone, a Samsung Galaxy S21, so as a result the video quality is worse than usual. My small daypack was substitute for a tripod as well. Most of the time I just had to film while walking as balancing a phone on top of a canvas daypack doesn't work all that well! I also had to use my work boots as substitute for hiking boots. That was a bad idea as my feet were sure sore that evening!

Come with me and lets escape the noise of life and go hiking in the wilderness. I am making these videos to do something creative and help in getting me back out hiking again. Also with sharing these to the world, it’s for the enjoyment of other people who are unable to visit or physically do these walks themselves and for those who just want to see a different part of the world in a quiet (mostly no talking) and relaxing manner.

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Music courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
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