Yesterday I hiked Roy’s Peak, which is a well known mountain here in Wanaka. It’s about 5,200 feet and the views are to be incredible of the lake, Mt. Aspiring national park and the outskirts of Wanaka.
It was supposed to be a sunny day, but woke up with the weather channel noting a 70% chance of rain. Thankfully it didn’t rain, but I’m so happy it was cloudy. The trail is completely open, so it would get really hot, really quick.
Like a lot of trails in NZ, the trail head is a few kilometers out of town. Whenever I go to the i-site (visitors center), they always suggest hitch hiking. It’s really common and safe here, but I usually opt to walk. Luckily, there was a path along the lake (the same trail I took the day before) that leads you to the trail head.
The trail to the trail also meandered through a sheep farm – only in NZ!
Before getting to the start, I had almost walked 1.5 hours already. Granted it was flat, but nothing like a good warmup!
Once getting to the trail head, it was a 16km hike to the top. I heard it was difficult, but wasn’t sure was to expect. Very steep is the best way to describe it! You’re literally just zigzagging your way up the mountain, but given that, it’s uphill the entire way.
As the trail is so open, the views were incredible the whole way up. There were a few times I was walking very slow but it was nice to at least have beautiful scenery to look at.
The trail was all dirt and grass, and we passed a ton of sheep. Saw blue sky for a few minutes, but as mentioned, I was actually happy it was cloudy!
You end up climbing pretty quickly and it took just under 3 hours to get to the top. There’s a famous lookout point, which is a little peninsula off the mountain, where you literally feel like you’re on top of the world!
Thankfully the clouds and rain held off and I was able to get the snow capped peaks.
Pretty cool to look down at the track to see what you’ve accomplished!
Coming down the trail was just as hard as going up, as your legs didn’t get a break from the downhill. But going down you have the views the entire time!
It took me about 4.5 hours to do the whole hike, plus an additional 3 to walk to and from the start!
Once I reached the bottom, I still had to walk back to town, which ended up being very slow! It felt good to stretch out my legs a bit, but they’re tired today.
Overall, a gorgeous hike with amazing views and comes highly recommended by me. 🙂
Her Adventures Told 
Quite the hike!! It’s a good thing you’re young and in shape. Absolutely gorgeous views. How neat to end the hike at the tip of the peninsula. You must have felt you were on top of the world. Glad the rain held off. What fun to walk through a sheep farm. Like you said, only in New Zealand. I love reading your blogs; keep them coming!
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That’s an amazing hike! You must be in incredible shape by now! What a view from that lookout point. Just spectacular. So glad you’re able to get out and see this gorgeous country.
Talk to you tonight! Love ya!
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