Putangirua Pinnacles: Day 8
After a full day touring film sites around Wellington, the next day we drove about an hour on a solo tour of another Lord of the Rings filming location, the Putangirua Pinnacles. This unique geological feature was used in the third film for the Paths of the Dead—and while our heroes made it look easy, it’s a killer hike!
Entry to the Putangirua Pinnacles
The entry to the park starts off easy, with a fairly flat path running along a creek full of fossilized shells and a sign promising a 1.5 hour round trip hike. However, like an episode from Gilligan’s Island, this turned into a 3 hour tour—or actually, closer to a 4 hour tour!
To reach the Pinnacles, we ascended a relentlessly steep incline of loose rocks that would slide like sand under our footsteps, sinking us several inches back down the slope on each step. The sun blazed incredibly hot—not what we expected from the chilly portrayal in the films or even our pleasant weather from the day before.
Formation of the Pinnacles
The grade was even steeper among the Pinnacles themselves. Each pinnacle has a boulder cap that protects the gravelly clay beneath from rainwater erosion, forming the pinnacle. Narrow gullies form between them, extending hundreds of meters in narrow, twisting turns from the cliffs to the main wash. The temperature decreased dramatically within these shady lanes as the cold stone walls closed in, but as the incline and unstable footing correspondingly increased, we couldn’t venture as far as we might have liked. Perhaps that’s just as well—we wouldn’t want to stumble upon the deadly cave from the films!
Don’t let the pictures fool you—the main area had a 30%-40% grade at all times, and some of the chasms were probably closer to 70% or 80%!
The dark, narrow turns of a gully 
Steep grade leading into one of the gullies
Sounds of Siege
At long last, exhausted by the heat and hard climbs of our wandering, we headed back to Wellington, passing en route the cricket stadium where Peter Jackson had all the fans at halftime march and shout “Grond!” for the sound of the orc army besieging Minas Tirith in The Return of the King.
The next day we would say farewell to the north island—but not before going through the lair of the dragon Smaug himself!
Journey to Middle Earth Series:
Day 1: Living Like Hobbits (Auckland)
Day 2: To Middle Earth and Beyond! (Port Waikato & Hot Water Beach)
Day 3-4: Hobbiton (Matamata)
Day 5: Geothermal Wonderland (Rotorua)
Day 6: The Forests and Rivers of Middle Earth (North Island)
Day 7: Weta Workshop & the Forests of Middle Earth (Wellington)
Day 8: Paths of the Dead (Putangirua Pinnacles)
Day 9: Flight of Fantasy (Wellington & Christchurch)
Day 10: Edoras, Capital of Rohan (Mount Sunday)
Day 11: Lake Pukaki (Laketown)
Days 12-14 part 1: Queenstown (Isengard, Lothlorien, Ithilien, and more!)
Days 12-14 part 2: Queenstown (Argonath, Dimrill Dale, Rohan, and more!)
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