"10.6 km round trip walk up to the trig and back. Took the track from Manuweka Road by Otawa Lodge. 3 hours 40 min. Not worth the walk.. no reward at the top. Overgrown and no view at all. " — jessicadavidson • Jan 4, 2025

"Climbed the Mount in the morning for sunrise probably took 25 mins to walk up it. Heaps of spectators up there enjoying the view, a nice vibe to start the morning. Sunrise was 5.49am and there was plenty of light to see my way up there prior to sunrise." — loganscott • Dec 4, 2024

"Ascended up the east track, which has now been cleared of fallen trees knocked down recently. Good views from the top, skies mostly clear. Descended down the north track, which still has one fallen tree across the path, but you can squeeze under or go around. Lots of birds around. Piwakawaka and toutouwai" — Lipi • Feb 17, 2022

"Beginning of track is overgrown, first 1/3 of track a bit rough, after that the track is reasonable. Started very slowly with George (wearing jandles) and when he gave up and turned back I power hiked and ran up to the trig on tired wake boarding legs with only 2 hours of sleep the night before. Surreal mist in amongst the trees. No view from the summit, just an old trig" — peakerykiwi • Jan 11, 2015

"Had it on my bucket list to sleep under the stars on top of Mt Tarawera since I was young. We started climbing at 6pm and turned back when we heard people at the DOC workers hut. Since it is now no longer public access we didn't want to get caught. After a steep climb up the scoria and then bush crashing and a bit of rock climbing we made it to the summit of Wahanga Dome 1025m (which we have since found out is tapu). Escaping dive bombing birds we moved on over to climb to the trig of Ruawahia Dome 1111m in the light of the full moon. I gave up trying to sleep on the gravel in the sheltered area and had a luxurious bed on the moss. " — peakerykiwi • Jan 6, 2015