In a country featuring some of the world’s more popular multiday hikes, the Pouakai Crossing around the iconic volcanic cone of New Zealand’s Mount Taranaki is a more convenient one-day adventure. The Taranaki region’s Egmont National Park does offer the longer two- to three-day Pouakai Circuit, but for a growing number of savvy local and international visitors, the more concise 12-mile (19-kilometer) Pouakai Crossing is a preferred option. The track takes around seven to nine hours, negotiating the more spectacular lower northern slopes of Mount Taranaki, and traversing varying landscapes from temperate rainforest to subalpine bush, and including waterfalls and remote mountain lakes. Local shuttle companies can arrange transport to and from trailheads, and the best time to tackle the Crossing is during spring and summer in the southern hemisphere (around October to April).
