Parking
Start at the roadside car park at Haast Pass/Tioripatea on State Highway 6. The nearest listed toilets are at Cameron Flat Campsite, about 10 km south.
Overview
About Haast Pass Lookout Track
Why go
- A short forest climb reaches an open, timber-railed viewpoint
- A clear-day view of the Southern Alps and Mount Brewster
Heads up
- A sustained, steep climb for a short walk
- Cloud can hide the mountain view
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Mount Aspiring map
Full mapElevation606–707 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Mount Aspiring alert
- CautionRob Roy Track: stop at lower lookout during avalanche seasonFrom May through November, end your Rob Roy Track hike at the lower lookout; DOC strongly recommends against continuing to the upper lookout because the track crosses active avalanche paths.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Aspiring Tour Guide
Your drive to Haast Pass Lookout Track, narrated.
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 trailhead
Haast Pass Lookout at Tioripatea0:00 / 0:25
“You're approaching the Haast Pass lookout car park at Tioripatea. The view of Mount Brewster is above the beech forest, reached by a steep one point five kilometre return walk taking about an hour.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Mount Aspiring Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- How Mountains Make a Rain Shadow
- Months Underwater, Days in the Air
- Fantail Falls and the Road Builders
- Makarora River Bridge and the Hut Track
- 80 audio storiesacross Mount Aspiring’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Kea, Rockwren, Yellowhead, and 8 more
- Works offlinemaps, 50 trails, 52 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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Haast Pass Lookout Track
The short routeHaast Pass Lookout Track is a 1.
Haast Pass Lookout Track is a 1.5 km return walk from the Haast Pass/Tioripatea car park on State Highway 6 to an open viewpoint above the beech forest. Allow about an hour round trip for the sustained climb of roughly 150 m and the same track back down. It is a worthwhile leg-stretcher when the mountain ridges are clear; low cloud can take away most of the view that makes the climb worthwhile.
Up through beech forestThe gravel track climbs through silver beech before emerging above the bushline.
The gravel track climbs through silver beech before emerging above the bushline. It is short but steadily uphill, so the grade can feel more demanding than the distance suggests. Turn around at the viewpoint and retrace the same route; this is an out-and-back, not a loop.
At the lookoutThe top is a small gravel platform with a timber railing above a forested valley.
The top is a small gravel platform with a timber railing above a forested valley. The Southern Alps fill the wider view, with Mount Brewster prominent to the northeast on a clear day. For a photo, include the railing in the foreground and the valley and ridges beyond; it shows the actual viewpoint as well as the landscape.
A pass with a long historyTioripatea is glossed as “the way ahead is clear.”
Tioripatea is glossed as “the way ahead is clear.” Māori crossed the pass between Central Otago and the West Coast to trade pounamu and food. Charles Cameron is generally credited with the first European crossing in 1863; Julius Haast followed soon after with a party of four. The highway reached Haast in 1960, and its northern link through Westland was completed in 1965.
Getting there and the rulesStart at the roadside car park at Haast Pass/Tioripatea on State Highway 6.
Start at the roadside car park at Haast Pass/Tioripatea on State Highway 6. The nearest listed toilets are at Cameron Flat Campsite, about 10 km south; no food stop on the route was identified. Dogs and other pets are not permitted in New Zealand national parks.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Mount Aspiring
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.
