Gums Loop is an easy walk that spans 2.8 kilometers. It takes an hour to complete the round trip.
Gums Loop is mostly flat and is graded as an easy walk. It passes through both native bush and a plantation of gum trees. Just over half the walk is a track through forest and less than half is a straighter route / private road (Reservoir Road). You are not likely to encounter any vehicles however. On the rare occasion you do, it will be staff who work at the waterworks or the regional park, who tend drive carefully. As a result, the walk is wheelchair and pram friendly. The full loop is an easy walk and is suitable for bikes. It’s also open to dogs, but they must be leashed.
Featuring mostly flat terrain, it is positioned at the foothills of one of the largest and most unspoiled lowland forests in the lower North Island. This track also passes through a small eucalypt and pine plantation. Hence the name ‘Gums Loop’. The walk includes a swing bridge over the Wainuiomata River that leads to the historic Mackay Cottage site. From here, there are opportunities to extend the walk to also include Sledge Track and Tana Umaga Track, which together form a challenging loop walk. Further, you can branch out and add on the rest of Lower Dam Walk if you follow the road east after the swing bridge.
Gums Loop can accessed from either the main car park on Reservoir Road or the Hine Road car park.
History of Gums Loop
Prior to being an official walk in Wainuiomata Regional Park, there has been a track of some kind through Gums Loop Meadow, as early as the 1880s. Further, Reservoir Road which forms part of the loop walk was also in existence due to the construction of lower dam in 1880. (If you click this 1880s photo and zoom in, you can see the track below the hills and a fence in the background. You can also see the entrance to Reservoir Road and the end section of Whitcher Grove.
Today, in the surrounding eucalypt forest in Gums Loop Meadow, there are remnants of fences and a track that existed when this area was farmland. Learn more.
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