Davies Track is a great, short walk in the Taranaki area of the North Island. This walk takes you to the high point of the Kaitake Range in Egmont National Park.
Since I live in Oakura I’m always looking for nice, short walks that I can do in an afternoon or morning. I’ve found a number of different walks, some of which are along the beach and others up the mountains. Luckily for me, the Kaitake Range runs right down towards Oakura. This small range has numerous short walks that are fun to explore or make a good run.
Davies Track Overview
Highlights – Lush native lowland coastal forest full of nikau palms, silver ferns, puriri trees, pukatea trees, kereru, tui, grey warblers, and a great view from the trig.
Location – Trail head is at the top of Surrey Hill Road. Park on side of road near DOC sign and start walking up through paddocks before you hit forest.
Length Of Walk – 3 – 4 hours round trip, maybe 8 km round trip.
Difficulty – Easy to moderate.
Davies Track Walk
From the car park the first 15 minutes of this walk follows orange marker polls as it climbs and crosses some paddocks. Please be respectful and stay along the marked trail. This section has great views out to the coast behind you and up to Mt. Taranaki over the forest in the distance on a clear day.
Crossing from the open paddock into the forest is always a bit of a weird transition because you go from sunlight to shade under the trees. It’s a completely different world in the thick forest. The trail climbs moderately for the first 1.5 km. This section of the forest is full of nikau palms, tree ferns, and supplejack pines.
The next 1 km of the trail is a bit steeper and tougher to walk. Around the 2.5 km point in the forest there is a trail junction. Stay right towards Patuha Trig, the high point. The final 1/2 km of the trail gets quite steep and requires some hands at points. The view from the top is totally worth it:)
The trig makes a perfect snack break from which you can enjoy views out to the ocean, Mt. Taranaki, and even Mt. Ruapehu in the distance. Return the way you came.
My Insiders Tips To Davies Track
I always use the stoat trap boxes, which are numbered, to give me an idea how far I’ve walked. The boxes start at 1 by the forest edge and hit 31 at the trig.
If you have two cars you can turn this into a through hike so you don’t have to backtrack. Park a car at Lucy’s Gully and then start the hike as I describe here. From the trig continue along the ridge towards Lucy’s Gully. It’s about 1 1/2 hours from the trig to the Lucy’s Gully carpark.
Look for Kereru, fantails, and tui down lower in the forest and then as you get higher start watching or listening for grey warblers and bellbirds.