Coromandel - the Pinnacles

The Kauaeranga Kauri Trail is 8km trail, following an old packhorse trail used in the early 1900s for forestry, through the Coromandel Forest Park up to what are known as the Pinnacles. It is a very popular trail, so it is super wide and well built. It actually reminded Lisa and I a lot of the Inca Trail in Peru. We spent the night with 30 other people in a massive 80-person hut with running water, propane, and electricity about 6 km from the trail head. It was fancy, and they actually had a shower block which Lisa used. In the evening, we wandered up from the hut to the top of the Pinnacles, which are several steep rock spires.

From atop the Pinnacles, we were treated with sweet as views of forested valleys with occasional kauri trees, mountains and the ocean to the west. We found a flat spot to settle in for sunset, fired up the campstove, drank beer, and cooked up some Kumara (Sweet potato native to NZ) chickpea powerbowls. pretty much half way through meal prep , the rest of the hut patrons made their way up to the top. Although we were on a separate pinnacle, it dawned on us that because we were positioned between them and the sunset, we and our bright colored hiking cloths were going to end up in a bunch of other peoples pictures. Too bad for them, but it did make us chug beer and eat fast. Sunset was sweet too, lots of practice with the new camera.Read more