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Mt Zion Track
.jpg&width=400&height=267 "Mt Zion Track")
| Location: North Island, Auckland West Coast |
| Nearest Town: Piha |
| Nearest City: Auckland |
| Length of tramp: 7.8 km |
| Time needed: 3 hours 40 minutes, without stopping |
| Difficulty: Medium |
| Route: Round Trip |
| Elevation: Sea level to 265m |
| Wet Feet: Only if there has been a day or two of rain. The Pararaha Creek at the bottom of Buck track to the sand dunes tends to flood |
| Toilets: In main car park |
| Dogs: No |
| Mobile phone coverage: No |
| Date this tramp was last walked: 11 July 07 |
| Track quality: Dirt track up to Mt Zion and down to the wet lands, from the wet lands you can ether walk along the sandy beach or walk along the old tram track. |
| Shops/restaurants: Click here to see a huge list of great Auckland restaurants >> www.auckland-restaurants.co.nz |
| Hazards: Track can be very slippery after rain |
| Transport: Yes |
| Water: The Pararaha Creek is good for drinking, so long as no one is swimming in it. |
| Camping on track: Yes |
| Track highlights: Great costal views, walk through the old abandon tram tunnel and along the old tram track |
| Area & Track History: Piha and Whatipu go back a long way, in the late 1800, this area was very popular for the whaling and sealing ships when new masks were needed to repair the ships. In the early 1900, saw mills were built along the coast to harvest the hundreds of Kauri trees. Between Piha and Whatipu a tram line was built up the coast along the wet land. A tunnel was cut through a small ride to keep away from the black sand hill. At the Piha end of the beach, the track was built in to the cliff face to get around Whatipu point, if you look around, you can still see the old rusting rock bolts that held the sleepers to the cliff. When you walk south along the ridge from Mt Zion, you can look down to the wet land and just make out the rack. |
Map of Mt Zion Track :
This is a dynamic map. You can zoom in and out using the "+" and "-" buttons, drag the map to see surrounding areas and click on the flags to see each position on the map
Detailed track description for
Mt Zion Track:
Mt Zion Track - Start
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Start")
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At Karekare Beach, pull into the car park on the right, lots of parking and toilets across the road. Walk back on to the road, turn right, walk over the bridge and turn hard right into the grassy picnic spot.
Mt Zion Track - Point 2
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 2")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 2")
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Mt Zion Track - Point 3
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 3")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 3")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 3")
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Mt Zion Track - Point 4
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 4")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 4")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 4")
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Mt Zion Track - Point 5
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 5")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 5")
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Feel like a cool dip? From the creek out to the sand hills, the track winds it relaxing way through small gully’s full of palm trees. Very green and peaceful.
Mt Zion Track - Point 6
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 6")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 6")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 6")
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(45 min - 1.6km) Buck Taylor track turn off. Keep going downhill, it gets a little steep here and very slippery for the next 10 minutes.
Mt Zion Track - Point 7
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 7")
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Mt Zion Track - Point 8
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 8")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 8")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 8")
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(30m min. 900m)
Turnoff to Muir track is to the left and right will take you to the beach. Follow the track to the big black sand hill to the west. You might get your feet wet if there has been any rain in the last day or too. The track is sandy so take off your boots. There is a sign post just before you climb the sand hill, when you are standing on the top, walk to the right with the ocean over on your left shoulder. Once on the sand hill look back, to the Pararaha valley and the hill you walk down, (to the left of the photo).
Mt Zion Track - Point 9
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 9")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 9")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 9")
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(1 H.30 min.3.6Ks )
To Karekare beach. Standing on top of the sand hill, look nor, nor, west . 900ms towards the big clump of trees that is where the tunnel is located. And a good camp spot. Walk between the swamp and the sand hills. More so to the sand hills you should meet up with the goat track leading to the tunnel. If not, head for the trees you can’t go wrong, you will only have to walk over the sand hills. Nothing wrong with that. Keeping the cliff face on your right shoulder at all times. Keep an eye out for rabbits and pheasant there are a few around.
Mt Zion Track - Point 10
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 10")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 10")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 10")
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Mt Zion Track - Point 11
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 11")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 11")
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Mt Zion Track - Point 12
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 12")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 12")
.jpg "Mt Zion Track - Point 12")
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.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 10, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 11, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 12, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 2, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 3, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 4, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 5, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 6, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 7, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 8, New Zealand")
.jpg&width=90 "Mt Zion Track - Point 9, New Zealand")
