Stream Korokoroowhaiti Stream

Greater watershed Lake Waikaremoana → Waikaretaheke River → Waiau River → Wairoa River → Hawke Bay

Height 22m/72ft according to LINZ

Form A rectangle

Volume Medium

General location Te Urewera National Park/whatever will replace Te Urewera National Park when it gets handed back to the Tuhoe next year

Specific location a short side trail off the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk, near the Korokoro Campsite; or a short hike following a water taxi ride from Waikaremoana

Trail access On day 2 or 3 of the Lake Waikaremoana Track, perhaps an hour past Waipaoa Hut, there's a signed side trail that leads up the somewhat rugged stream valley to a viewpoint of the waterfall. From there it's a steep scramble to the base.

Bonus waterfalls There's another waterfall marked on the map a kilometer or two above Korokoro Falls, 31m/102ft high. When I was there I didn't see anything that looked like a trail leading up the stream, and the bush was very thick. If you go, tell me all about it, ok?

 

A lacy curtain of water dropping over a rockface that—by some accident of nature—ended up being almost perfectly rectangular, Korokoro Falls is one of the classic Urewera waterfalls. Very consistent in volume due to its large catchment area and the high rainfall of the region, it rarely disappoints, providing a beautiful and contemplative scene for those who expend the effort to tramp in this remote region of the North Island.

 

As part of the Lake Waikaremoana Track, part of New Zealand's Great Walks network, it is regularly visited, and the trails are mostly in good shape. The backcountry huts that dot the route are both a solution and a problem, providing shelter and clean water and toilets in order to hike the circuit in relative comfort, but also requiring pre-booking in peak season. You will likely not have very long at the falls due to the need to get to the next hut, or to catch the return water taxi to your car. Nonetheless, particularly in the summer, it is worth lingering a bit, as along with the cloud forest, the views from Panekiri Bluff and the palatial Waiharuru Hut it is one of the highlights of the track.

 

If you don't have the time or energy for the full circuit the water taxi is a reasonable, if possibly somewhat expensive option.