Mt Taranaki day walk

Hi @jcmck. I'd not rule out anything you've already thought of, but another entrance you could consider is the Mangorei Road entrance. It doesn't have a DOC office, but it's very accessible to New Plymouth. (Note that there are some other ways in marked on standard topo maps which are less reliable. For example, don't bother with the Plymouth Road entrance shown on current topo maps. Unless it's changed, I think there's some nearby land-owner conflict with the unformed road at the start of that one.) It's harder to walk in a loop from Mangorei Road because you'd typically have a slog up to Pouakai Hut before being able to go anywhere else, but once you're there you're effectively on the plateau. If you've that much time then you could possibly get as far in as Holly Hut and back, depending on how quick you are. Stupid Tarn (the famous one that pops up in reflective photos every time you search for images of the mountain) is only a short distance from Pouakai Hut. There's a particular walk called the Pouakai Crossing which the local tourism people like to promote as a day-walk, which normally starts at North Egmont and you'd come out at Mangorei Road (after lots of down-hill). It's a one-way thing, but there's at least one shuttle company that promotes a couple of transport options for it at $45 per person: https://taranakidriven.nz/mountain-shuttle If it's towards the end of May then keep in mind that weather could be a big factor, and your days will be shorter. Wind's a potential problem of course, or a significant amount of snow could make it hard to get around some of the flatter places on top, depending on how far down it is.

Thanks @izogi, that’s very helpful. The North Egmont to Mangorei option looks interesting and thanks for the shuttle link. I think I’ll need to have a bad weather back up option as well!