Trails › New Zealand › Ruggedy Mountains
North West Circuit Stewart Island/Rakiura
Next nearby hike: Rakiura - north west circuit 11 mi · 17 kmExplore Ruggedy Mountains →
North West Circuit Stewart Island/Rakiura other trails nearby (tap a dot to open it)
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NZ Department of Conservation (CC BY 4.0) · OpenStreetMap · Official page · Basemap: OpenFreeMap (OpenMapTiles, © OSM contributors).
7-day forecast
Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)Best time to hike
Best months: Sep–May · highs 11–15 °C (52–59 °F)
- J15°12°149
- F15°12°112
- M14°11°139
- A13°10°143
- M11°9°164
- J10°7°151
- J9°7°139
- A10°7°120
- S11°8°133
- O11°8°140
- N12°9°117
- D14°11°130
Average high °C · low °C · precipitation mm per month. Highlighted: best months.
How we pick months
Best months are those where the 1981–2010 average daily high is 10–27 °C (50–81 °F), the average overnight low is 0 °C (32 °F) or warmer, and average precipitation is 200 mm (7.9 in) or less. Values are long-term monthly averages for the ~1 km cell at the trail point on the map, from CHELSA V2.1 climatologies (Karger et al., CC0), not a forecast. Higher or more exposed parts of a route can be colder, wetter or snowier.
About this trail
The North West Circuit offers challenging multi-day tramping around Rakiura/Stewart island’s northern coast.
NZ Department of Conservation (CC BY 4.0).
Trail facts
- Length
- 81 km · 50 mi (DOC route geometry)
- Source
- NZ Department of Conservation (CC BY 4.0)
- Difficulty
- Hard (7/10) (Advanced · NZ Department of Conservation difficulty (CC BY 4.0))
- Typical time (DOC)
- 9 - 11 days
- Official page
- doc.govt.nz/link/62552ff094d44ede8bb36304de1
- Mountain range
- Ruggedy Mountains (GMBA)
- Nearest town
- 50 km SW of Riverton (Southland District, Southland) · GeoNames
- Park or forest
- Rakiura National Park
- Connects to
- Rakiura Track (at its start or end)
- Best months
- Sep–May
- Country
- New Zealand
- Continent
- Oceania
- Route centre
- -46.7446, 167.7179
How it’s scored
Hard (7/10). Official rating: Advanced · NZ Department of Conservation difficulty (CC BY 4.0).
A score is omitted when we do not have an official rating or enough measured length and elevation gain to compute one. Nothing is guessed. Read the NPS method: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/how-to-determine-hiking-difficulty.htm
Hikers can rate difficulty from 1 to 10 (1 = flat, short, easy walk for anyone; 3 = gentle hills, a little effort; 5 = moderate climbs, some fitness needed; 7 = steep or long, solid fitness required; 10 = extremely strenuous or technical; long steep climbing; experienced hikers only). The community average is shown once at least 3 people have rated the trail; until then the official or computed score is used when we have one.
Nearest trails
distance from the trail centreRakiura - north west circuit
11 mi · 17 km · Southland
Freshwater Landing to Mason Bay
12 mi · 20 km · Rakiura National Park
Rakiura - southern circuit
15 mi · 25 km · Rakiura National Park
Rakiura Track
21 mi · 34 km · Southland
Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara walking tracks
23 mi · 37 km
Ocean Beach Track
30 mi · 49 km