Sight · Mount Aspiring National Park
Blue-green rapids under a narrow truss bridge make a quick stop.
Overview
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Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Aspiring Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Aspiring 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 Mount Aspiring audio tourRecorded for this place
Gates of Haast: Rapids Beneath the Bridge“Gates of Haast is coming up, where the river squeezes between huge boulders beneath a one-lane steel bridge.”
Plays as you drive up to Gates of Haast in the Parkwolf Mount Aspiring Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“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!!!!”
Guide
Gates of Haast is a narrow, boulder-filled gorge on the Haast River, where State Highway 6 crosses on a one-lane steel truss bridge. The river rushes through as rapids and a steep cascade, not one tall waterfall. It’s a good short stop if you want to see the pass’s water up close. Use the roadside layby and short access path; don’t stop on the bridge.
The blue-green water and large rocks are the draw. From near the bridge, look down the channel as it narrows between steep, forested walls. For a photo, include a boulder in the foreground and the bridge above the rapids; that gives the gorge a sense of scale.
The bridge carries SH6 across the Haast River. The full Haast Highway route between Haast and Wānaka officially opened in 1965, turning this crossing into part of the through-route over the pass.
The layby and viewing space are close to the highway, and the river’s rocky edges are steep. Stay on the access path and don’t scramble onto the boulders. This is a short roadside stop, not a place to linger.
Wildlife
60 sightingsKeaMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
112 sightingsRockwrenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
26 sightingsYellowheadMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
13 sightingsTūīMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
27 sightingsBellbirdMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
35 sightingsRiflemanMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Aspiring. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingWills Valley Track15 km · 11 hr · At the trailheadAn unstable gorge approach leads to a remote four-bunk hut.
EasyThunder Creek Falls Walk0.2 km · 9 min · 1.1 km awayA sealed path ends above Haast River, facing a 28 m waterfall.
EasyPleasant Flat Walk0.2 km · 5 min · 3.1 km awayA quick forest walk beside a mountain stream
EasyFantail Falls Walk0.2 km · 5 min · 4.2 km awayA five-minute return walk to a fan-shaped waterfall.
ChallengingBrewster Track5.6 km · 7 hr · 4.2 km awayA steep alpine climb to a hut above the Haast River
ModerateHaast Pass Lookout Track1.5 km · 1 hr · 7.8 km awayA short climb to a timber-railed Southern Alps lookout.
EasyBridle Track3.5 km · 1.5 hr · 7.8 km awayWalk a graded stretch of the old Otago to Westland route
Sight · 1.2 km awayThunder Creek FallsA five-minute forest walk to a 28 m waterfall.
Campground · 3.1 km awayPleasant Flat CampsiteOpen camping, a short stream walk, and Mount Hooker on the skyline.
Sight · 4.3 km awayFantail FallsA five-minute walk to a 23 m fan-shaped waterfall.
Lodging · 5.9 km awayBrewster HutA 12-bunk alpine hut at the end of a steep climb.Lodging · 6.3 km awayWills HutFour bunks at the end of a demanding valley trampSight · 7.7 km awayHaast Pass LookoutA steep climb buys a higher view over Haast Pass.Parkwolf’s Mount Aspiring ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
