Hiking the Holdsworth-Jumbo circuit in the Tararua Range before breakfast
A guide to hiking the iconic Holdsworth to Jumbo circuit in the Tararua Range at night time.
It seems to be a shame to waste nice fine days by going tramping when instead you could get your tramping out of the way during the night. As a suggestion you could try the Holdsworth-Jumbo circuit. Just take a warm jacket, water bottle, and six peanut butter sandwiches.
An itinerary for a relatively relaxed mid-week May trip would be as follows:
- Leave work at 5:00 pm pronto
- Grab a quick takeaway meal and drive to the Holdsworth carpark by 7:00 pm
- Arrive at the summit of Mt Holdsworth at 11:00 pm
- Arrive at the Jumbo turnoff at 1:30 am
- Arrive back at the carpark at 4:30 am
- Have an hour’s nap (¡important! before driving home even if you think you are ok)
- Arrive home at 7:00 am for a quick shower and change
- Arrive at work on time at 8:00 am for coffee and breakfast of your leftover peanut butter sandwich – simple as.
A few photos of the trip would look like those below:
Some other WTMC Holdsworth tramps:
Big Day Out: Jumbo-Holdsworth in pictures