If you’re looking for a great sunrise or sunset walk in Wanaka, then Mount Iron is a fantastic choice. You’ll get wonderful views over the mountains and lakes without having to do too much climbing. It’s a great warm up if you’re planning on one of the bigger hikes, like Roys Peak or Isthmus Peak, or just a nice alternative if you want to do a more relaxed trail.
If you’ve fallen in love with Wanaka, as most visitors do, it’s nice to be able to pick out all the different landmarks from your lofty vantage point at the summit.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Mount Iron Track.
The Mount Iron Track
The stats
Distance: 4.5km
Elevation: 234m
Difficulty: Easy, but not flat
Trail type: Circuit
The Mount Iron Track is all on a well graded gravel path. It’s steep in places, but it doesn’t take long to get to the top. We took 30 minutes to get up and just slightly longer to get down.
Which direction to walk the trail
We walked the trail clockwise, which is the direction that the track guides you towards. We did wonder afterwards though, whether going in the opposite direction might be better as you would spend the descent looking towards the mountains. In terms of steepness, there’s not as much in it as you’d think.
Although one side of the circuit is much longer than the other, it has a very long (1.2km) flat section, which means the climb is done over a similar distance whichever route you choose.
If you want the quickest route to the top because you’re heading up for sunrise or sunset, then definitely go clockwise as it’s just 1.8km to the trig.
The Mount Iron Walk: the route up
We’ll share the route we took, which is the one that most people opt for, heading clockwise. The path begins heading uphill almost immediately and it remains a fairly consistent climb all the way to the top. It’s a wide gravel path which means footing is very easy.
You’ll get some wonderful views out to the mountains from the off, which for us walking in spring was even more special, as they were still snow-capped.
It’s not a wild mountain view like you’ll get on some of the other walks around Wanaka, as you do still see plenty of houses and the town centre, but it’s a spectacular vista nonetheless.
The path switchbacks up the hill and after 850m you’ll reach a bench seat if you want to take a break. If you’re heading up early or late in the day it won’t be an issue, but in the middle of the day the trail is fairly exposed so it will feel more tiring.
A few hundred metres beyond the bench the trail briefly flattens before it starts steepening again and you’ll hit a short rocky patch.
There’s a second bench at the 1.5km mark, but by this point you are very close to the top. From the bench the path flattens considerably and it almost feels flat for the last 300m to the trig.
There are some great views along the last stretch and it’s worth stopping to look behind you on a regular basis!
The Mount Iron summit
The view from the top of Mount Iron is panoramic. It’s quite a large sprawling summit so there’s plenty of room to sit down either on the bench, or rocks.
As it’s a 360 degree view, sunrise or sunset works well here - we opted for sunset as we prefer to avoid a really early alarm call if we can!
From the top you’ll be treated to views over both Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea, the Cardrona Valley, Upper Clutha River and the gorgeous snow-capped mountains of Mount Aspiring National Park. It’s a really beautiful spot, especially during golden hour.
The walk down
The way down is longer than the way up at 2.7km. The path is relatively steep going down, but it’s the same well made gravel track, so it’s not a tricky descent even if you’re doing it in the twilight.
There are the odd short rocky patches but nothing major. There’s one bench seat on the way down, which comes about 900m in and then you have roughly another 550m of descent before the trail flattens.
After the descent you have approximately 1km of flat track through the bush before you pop out at the road for the last 200m back to the car park.
Getting to the Mt Iron Track
The Mt Iron Track begins just a couple of minutes drive from the town centre. There’s a large car park which is free and there is no time limit.
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