How to get to the start of the track: The track starts and ends at the Taranaki Falls car park on Ngauruhoe Terrace in Whakapapa Village. It has limited parking, but there’s plenty of street parking on SH48 near the Tongariro National Park Visitor Centre.

Distance: 17.6km return | Time: 6.5 hours return (to Upper Tama Lake)

Liz and I left Kawerau around 5pm, much later than we had planned. A mad dash for food supplies at New World Kawerau revealed a yummy Vietnamese noodle salad for my lunch the next day, so I was happy. We had had such crap weather in the Bay of Plenty leading up to the Friday that it felt like deja vu to our Tongariro National Park trip in 2025. The weather forecast for our hike to Tama Lakes on glorious sunshine, so we just had to keep optimistic.

After meeting up with my friend Sheree at our accommodation in Waimarino, we walked over to the Schnapps Bar for dinner. That’s where we ran into an old high school classmate, Julia. She was surprised to hear that we were planning to walk to Tama Lakes - it turned out I had picked the same weekend as the Tussock Traverse and Ring of Fire Ultra running races. We said, oh well, we’re great cheerleaders! We decided to start walking by 7.30am, that way we should be well past the Taranaki Falls junction before coming across the main runners.


We had a quick chat with the marshall at the Taranaki Falls junction. She said there was another hiker before us, but no runners yet. It was much busier when we came back later that afternoon - a big mix of weary runners and day hikers. Walking before sunrise definitely has its perks, apart from the morning dew and amber colours, you usually have the track to yourself. This is the first of two toilets along the track (and one of the most scenic toilet spots in National Park I reckon), the second is at the Tama Lakes/Waihohonu Hut Track junction.

From the junction, the track opens up to boardwalks along an expanse of tussock. With clear skies, we had great views of Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe throughout. As it got later in the morning, we began to run into more runners, giving way and giving them cheers as they ran past. The track has a few narrow sections, some quite eroded, which did become bottlenecks with day hikers later in the afternoon. Still, most runners we came across were good spirits despite starting their race in the dark.



From the junction, the track opens up to boardwalks along an expanse of tussock. Tama Lakes is a great alternative to the Tongario Alpine Crossing - even though the distance is similar (17km vs 20km), the elevation gain is 580m vs 800m. Upper Tama Lake is 1,440 masl, while the Red Crater (the highest point in the Tongariro Alpine Crossing) is 1,886 masl. Did we mention, there’s no Devil’s Staircase on the Tama Lakes track? If you get to Lower Tama Lake and don’t feel you have the legs to keep going, the views are still lovely.

We met more marshals at the Tama Lakes/Waihohonu Hut junction. There I ran into Glen, an old workmate from Whakatāne. After a quick hello, he continued his race and we made our way to Lower Tama Lake. After 10-15 minutes, the Lower Tama Lake just pops out of nowhere. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up, and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. We originally looked for a lunch spot up on the hill to make the most of the views, but the chilly wind made us scramble downhill for some shelter. My Vietnamese noodle salad really hit the spot!


I reckon the best views of Lower Tama Lake and Mount Ngauruhoe are on the way up to Upper Tama Lake. Once the scree track starts to climb, it just keeps going. It’s easy to follow the pole track but be aware that this section is very exposed and can be dangerous under windy conditions. My nemesis, the cramp, showed up about ten minutes into the climb, and that’s why Liz and Sheree were in front of me in most of my photos. I hobbled on until we got to the ridge when I was overtaken by a couple of tourists. That’s when I remembered that I had brought my poles with me! After some extra electrolytes, I managed to catch up with Liz and Sheree at the viewpoint, who were chatting to the two tourists I met earlier.



From the viewpoint, you can walk down for five minutes to a slightly closer view of the lake. There was a large boulder that Sheree had declared our “turn around point”, so off we went. Liz was still talking to the tourists as we made our way down. Even though this area was lower than the viewpoint, it was actually windier, so I put on my windbreaker to take the chill off. Again, there wasn’t much shelter from the wind so after a few photos, we made our way back up the way we came. Liz borrowed my other pole to support her knee for the descent.

There was a steady stream of day hikers on their way to Upper Tama Lake as we made our way down. We had the track mostly to ourselves up until them, and that was quite the treat. If you get the chance to go early, do it. The Tama Lakes/Waihohonu Hut junction was just as busy with a big mix of runners from the Tussock Traverse and Ring of Fire Ultra. We later learned that Whakapapa Village was only halfway for the Ring of Fire runners, and they would be finishing around 10pm that night. What incredible athletes!


Heading back towards the Taranaki Falls junction had some bottlenecks, especially through the narrower, uphill sections. I just made sure Liz and Sheree didn’t get too far ahead of me when I gave way to runners. As I stood aside to let runners pass (when really, I just wanted to catch my breath), I made eye contact with Megan. She and I used to play football together and was in my sister’s year in high school. We haven’t really kept in touch but somehow run into each other in random places. Like at Tongariro National Park. She carried on with her race, and I hurried to catch up with Liz and Sheree.

I caught up with Liz at the Taranaki Falls junction, then we met up with Sheree down by the falls. Liz was keen to walk down to the foot of the falls, but I decided to find a good posy to eat the rest of my lunch. Sheree and I sat on a platform that had a great view of the falls. Luckily, my cramps had eased off and the walk back through the forest wasn’t as painful as earlier that afternoon. The beech forest leading back to Whakapapa Village is simply magical - it’s quite the contrast from the volcanic landscape and tussock. By the time we got back to the car park, I was pretty much done. Tired, but happy. Fabulous weather, beautiful landscapes and great company - what more can you ask for?