Korokoro Dam
March 29th, 2012 at 7:25 am by David FarrarKorokoro Dam
EveryTrail – Find hiking trails in Californiaand beyond
A commenter suggested I download Tracks for my iPhone and seems to work great. Maps your walk and you can add details and photos to it.
Just 10 minutes drive north of Wellington you find Cornish Street in Petone, which is at the corner of Belmont Regional Park.
Entering into the park you follow the Korokoro stream for just over four kms to the Korokoro dam – the first dam constructed in New Zealand.
The trial is pretty flat – the odd slope upwards. However it is a narrow path and at times quite high up, so your overall pace is slower than other terrains.
Within a minute though you are into 100% bush, and several wooden bridges as you cross over the stream several times. There is a small dam a few hundred metres along the route, but the big dam is a fair hike. The signs say 90 minutes each way, but we took around 50 to 55 minutes in each direction.
My first time in Belmont. Will definitely return as one can not only go to the dam, but also to trig stations or do a one way trip coming out in the North.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:56 am
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“Above the Korokoro damn”
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“The Korokoro damn from below”
Were you thinking, “Damn, that’s beautiful”, or had you just stubbed your toe?
Vote:March 29th, 2012 at 9:53 am
Not sure about these days, but there used to be a walking track from Maungaraki Road that took you over the top of the hill and down into some quiet spots / streams / and on to the dam.
Only 25 minutes to get there and an easy walk both ways.
Vote:March 29th, 2012 at 10:50 am
It’s a great walk because it is very close to a major road but because it has a winding ravine it means you can’t hear it till you are back at the carpark so it’s like being way out in the country, and the landscpae is quite diverse. Round the corner in Percy’s REserve is Wellington region’s highest waterfall.
@ elaycee
There’s entry points all over the place but you might be thinking of the one at Oakleigh St which joins Maungaraki Rd. That’s basically directly above the dam
Vote:March 29th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Yeah, the Oakleigh St entrance takes you straight down to the dam, which is a really nice spot. You can then follow the track beside Korokoro Stream down to Cornish Street (and the sea). It is a nice walk, and quite quiet.
Vote:March 29th, 2012 at 11:17 am
Yes, with two cars could do a nice circuit so do not to to loop back.
Vote:March 29th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
@insider: Agree – there are many tracks. The one I’ve used started at the carpark (according to the linked map, it’s opposite 326 Maungaraki Rd) and the track wanders through pine trees / over the hill down to the dam.
Most pleasant.
http://www.zoomin.co.nz/map/nz/lower+hutt/maungaraki/oakleigh+street/
Vote:March 29th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
Whoever suggested you hook up the iPhone to EveryTrail was onto it…
When you load them up you can also choose the map view and for example you can set it to google satellite view.
But one thing that irks me with the site is that when you are logged in your default (km/miles & m/feet) is used but when you splat the link onto another site it defaults to miles & feet. Can be changed for viewing though by clicking on the ‘setting’ on the bottom right of the window.
Also DPF check out the GPS options on the iPhone app, you can change the settings in interesting ways to balance battery life v accuracy etc.
Vote:March 29th, 2012 at 6:47 pm
DPF
One more thing, if you look at that track you have recorded here you will notice that while the GPS was getting itself sorted it recorded some wild leaps. Hence your speed jumps up to 200+ mph. when you load the track up you can trim the starting waypoints (the bogus ones) off the track and when you do that the speed graph will be more realistic and actually show the detail better.
It’s under the heading ‘Edit GPS data’ – the instructions are on the browser although they are a bit cryptic they do actually make sense if you follow them.
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