Te Puru – zL1/WK-077

I had been eyeing up this summit for a while but for whatever reason I hadnt gotten around to doing it. Well on the 17th of July I decided I was going to fix that. The walk up to Te Puru starts with 3 stream crossings. Of course in winter the streams were up due to recent rain. I made the first crossing without getting my feet wet, however the second I got my boots full of water. After the third I drained them and continued my walk up. About halfway up there is a magnificent Kauri tree near the track (in the saddle just under the 400 m contour).

Once you get up on the top ridge you are in the activation zone. You can set up there or walk 15 minutes with your GPS to find the true summit. Sadly there arent any views from the top. I decided to find the true summit but I couldnt find any marker peg. I made 15 contacts from the summit all on 7 MHz.

The walk down was quicker and I decided to stop under the Kauri tree for lunch. Once down to the streams I walked through them with disregard for wet feet as at this point the vehicle wasnt too far and the shows and socks were coming off at the car in any case. Enjoy this walk but pick a day without recent rain.

Details

Summit – ZL1/WK-077

Height – 720 mASL (climb 700 m)

Access – from end of Te Puru Creek Road

Nominal time to summit – 2.5 – 3 hours

Mobile and internet coverage from the summit – Patchy

Summit Marker – unmarked – but large activation zone

Land Access Permission – Not required (DoC track)

NB: Photos are not for use elsewhere without prior permission