Haast Pass Lookout

Haast Pass Lookout is a small viewpoint above the Haast Pass/Tioripatea saddle, reached by an uphill walk from the SH6 car park. It’s a good leg-stretch if you want to see the pass from above, but it isn’t a quick roadside stop: allow about an hour for the 1.5 km return track and its 150 m climb. The view is a bonus after the effort, and visitors differ on whether it earns the climb.

A gravel track climbs through beech forest before reaching a viewpoint above the trees. Mount Brewster stands out to the northeast, with forested slopes and the Southern Alps beyond. The track is steep in places, and the upper section can be rough and rocky. For a photo, keep the timber rail in the foreground with the valley and mountain ridges behind it; that shows you reached the platform as well as the view.

Māori used this mountain route to trade pounamu, and the pass is also known by its Māori name, Tioripatea. In 1863, geologist Julius von Haast set out from Lake Wānaka with four men and took 21 days to reach the boggy summit. A historical account credits prospector Charles Cameron with crossing the route a few weeks earlier, so Haast’s expedition was not the first.

The track starts at the car park on SH6 at the top of Haast Pass, 80 km north of Wānaka, and returns the same way. It’s graded easy to intermediate, but the climb makes the short distance feel more than a casual stroll. Dogs aren’t allowed. The nearest listed toilets are at Cameron Flat Campsite, 10 km south. For a longer walk, the Bridle Track starts across SH6 from the same car park and takes about 1.5 hours one way.