Egmont National Park

The Egmont National Park in the west of the North Island of New Zealand is dominated by an extinct volcano, Mount Taranaki. In the northeast there are still the remnants of two older volcanoes: Kaitake and Pouakai.

Established in 1981 and thus the second oldest National Park, it measures 33,543 hectares and encompasses the entire area inside of 9.6 kilometers around the volcano. On satellite images, the area of the national park is a sharply limited circle in the surrounding wood. It is managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC, Te papa atawhai). The volcano itself is one of the most common and best mountains in New Zealand.
The mountain is surrounded by a rainforest belt with a high annual rate of rainfall is benefited.

The park is open from three sides to reach:
Manaia Road to Dawson case
Egmont Road to North Egmont
Pembroke Road to the Stratford Plateau

Taranaki / Mount Egmont

Taranaki is a solitary, 2518m high volcanic cone with perfect form in the west of the North Island of New Zealand in the same region. It is regarded as a relatively young volcano, less than 135,000 years to be become active. The last eruption was in 1755.
The Maori of Taranaki has always been called a mountain of James Cook after the Earl of Egmont. The mountain however, was the old name, and only the surrounding Egmont National Park recalls the nobility, who never had been in New Zealand.
The very changeable weather and inexperienced climbers make the death rate on New Zealand mountains very high.
In mythology Maori is Te Maunga o Taranaki a mountain of God, who for many centuries, lived peacefully in the center of the North Island with the other gods, Tongariro, Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe. Through the love of Taranaki to the green forest there was the dispute with Tongariro who also claimed her love.

During the battle, the earth shook and the sky was black, Taranaki was angry and left the other mountains to settle in the direction of the sun, where he was sleeping in the Poukai mountain range and remained there forever. From the wounds of the Tongariro there emanated a stream of clear water, which represents today the Whanganui River. Furthermore, it is a sign of peace on earth, when the gods divided again.