Walking, running and tramping

Lower Dam Walk

• Easy
• 1 hour 20 mins (from carpark) return

An easy walk to one on New Zealand’s oldest dams.  Learn about Wellington’s water history and enjoy the bird song!  An easy Mountain Bike Ride that is also suitable for baby buggies. Heavy vehicles use this road so for your safety please walk on the track.

Gums Loop Track 

• Easy

• 1 hour return

This track takes you through the gum trees and past the old dam construction houses. Cross the Triangle Paddock from the carpark, then the footbridge and follow the river upstream through the gum trees and past regenerating bush. Cross back over the river via the swingbridge and return to the carpark along the sealed road.

Nikau Creek Track

• Easy / moderate
• 1 hour return

Cross the Triangle Paddock, then the footbridge and follow the track upstream.  Shortly after entering the bush a side track leads up beside Nikau Creek.  The track passes through regenerating bush before reaching mature beech forest.  Return by the same route.

Sledge Track

• Easy
• 1 hour 30 mins return

This track takes you up through native bush and gives views down over the Wainuiomata Valley. Starting from the old house site, it runs past the Pa Harakeke (flax planting site) then veers to the right, following the path of a historic logging track put in by the Sinclair family in the mid 1800s.  Climbing through regenerating bush beside the Sledge Track Creek, the path loops back towards the house site, over the swing bridge and then back via the sealed road to the car park.

Tana Umaga Track

• Moderate
• 1 hour 40 mins (from carpark)

First formed in the 1970s, this track was a geological survey route built to investigate rock structures as part of a (rejected) proposal to dam the Wainuiomata River. A challenging walk, it has a pleasant view of the Lower Dam flooded to create a wetland in 2007. Views of the upper Wainuiomata River valley are also excellent from a rest stop and a seat provided.

The easiest direction of travel is up the Sledge Track then down the Tana Umaga Track to the Gums Loop.