When walking in Egmont National Park, Mt Taranaki gets all the glory. But the diminutive and nearby Kaitake Range offers some memorable walking without the mammoth ascents.

This trip starts from Lucy’s Gully, named after Lucy Stevens who lived in Oakura in the early 1900s. Decorated with moko and usually wearing a black scarf, the toothless woman was a popular landmark, selling mushrooms, blackberries, kete and whip thongs to travelling bullock and horse-drawn vehicle drivers at the monthly Okato sales. Her husband and two sons were buried in the valley and she would visit their graves for days at a time.

The Waimoku Track and Sefton Ridge Track meet approximately 45 minutes below Patuha Trig and can be combined to form a loop, with a detour to the trig. It is easier to ascend via the Waimoku Track and return via the Sefton Ridge Track, as this is better graded. All tracks are marked with orange triangles.
I started the formed but single file Waimoku Track by passing through an impressive plantation of lofty Californian redwoods, planted in the Depression years of the 1930s.

The vegetation on the Kaitake Range differs from the slopes of Mt Taranaki. Tawa, hinau and pukatea are the predominant canopy species, while mahoe and pigeonwood form the shrub tier. In many places, I was thankful for the markers, as vegetation often masked the track and a dense lattice of supplejack and kiekie entwined the lower canopy. Views are hidden until a small north-facing grass clearing, which appears 15 minutes before the signposted junction with the Sefton Ridge Track.