Parking
Lake Gunn Nature Walk car park at Cascade Creek on Milford Road (SH94), about 78 km from Te Anau; nearby Cascade Creek Campsite has toilets and a picnic table. The campsite access is gravel.
Overview
About Eglinton Nature Walk
Lake Gunn Nature Walk—also listed in older trail data as Eglinton Nature Walk—is a 1.4 km / 0.87 mile total loop from the Lake Gunn Nature Walk car park at Cascade Creek on Milford Road (SH94). Allow about 45 minutes. The flat, easy track winds through red beech forest draped in moss, with interpretation panels, views toward Lake Gunn and the surrounding mountains, and a short side path to a stony beach.
The Eglinton Valley is a stronghold for native forest birds including South Island robins/kakaruai, tomtits, riflemen, kākā and yellowhead/mohua; short-tailed and long-tailed bats are also recorded in the area. The loop is near Cascade Creek Campsite, where toilets and a picnic table are available. The mapped track is not marked wheelchair accessible, and conditions can be wet or slippery after rain. No dogs are allowed in Fiordland National Park.
Fiordland weather changes rapidly, including in summer, so carry a rain layer. This is a short, family-friendly forest-and-lake walk rather than a strenuous hike, and it is a convenient way to sample the Eglinton Valley while travelling the Milford Road.
Why go
- Flat, easy loop through red beech forest draped in moss
- Lake Gunn and surrounding mountain views, with a short stony-beach side path
- Interpretation panels and Cascade Creek car-park toilets nearby
Heads up
- Very short—visitors wanting a workout or alpine views will need a longer walk
- Fiordland weather changes rapidly; the track can be wet or slippery after rain
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Fiordland map
Full mapElevation480–506 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Fiordland Tour Guide
Your drive to Eglinton Nature Walk, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Fiordland National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Fiordland audio tourRecorded for this area
Cascade Creek and the Lake Gunn Nature WalkListen
“The large, grassy flats you're seeing are part of the Cascade Creek campsite. Even if you're not staying the night, the main reason to pull over here is for the Lake Gunn Nature Walk.”
Plays near this trailhead in the Parkwolf Fiordland Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Cascade Creek Campsite and Lake Gunn Walk
- Takahē: Fiordland’s Living Fossil
- Mōhua of the Eglinton: The Yellowhead’s Comeback
- Pekapeka at Dusk: Fiordland’s Secret Bats
- 126 audio storiesacross Fiordland’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Kea, Fiordland Penguin, Blue Duck, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 68 trails, 124 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Wildlife
Wildlife in Fiordland
1,181 sightingsKeaMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
199 sightingsFiordland PenguinMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
228 sightingsBlue DuckMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
32 sightingsBottlenose DolphinMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
247 sightingsNew Zealand Fur SealMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
58 sightingsKākāMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Fiordland. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
