Although now usually applied to the hills immediately west of Ngāruawāhia, maps such as Hochstetter's of 1859, the 1925 geology map and 1944 one inch map show 'Hakarimata Range' as extending south to what is now SH23. Similarly, old accounts describe the Whatawhata-Raglan road as passing over the Hakarimatas.
Name
Hakarimata's name derives from a 17th-century feast, when Ngāti Maniapoto joined the localWaikatos to celebrate the birth of a child. There was a mountain of raw forest foods; hence the name Hākari-kai-mata, condensed to Hakarimata.
Geology
Hakarimata is part of the roughly north - south Kawhia Syncline, though the Hakarimata Anticline is at about a 30° angle to the rest of the syncline, probably due to strike slip movement along the Waipa Fault, Late Triassic Newcastle Group, sandstones, siltstones and greywacke have been folded, faulted and covered by other sedimentary rocks to form the Hakarimatas.
Wildlife
Plants
Hakarimata is the largest remnant of broadleaf-podocarp lowland forest that once dominated the Waikato. It is near the southern limit of kauri forest and northern limit of beech forest, with plants and animals of all three forest types. Occasional large rata and rimu stand above the canopy of tawa, kohekohe, hinau, rewarewa, mangeao and pukatea. There are also some miro, Hall's totara and tanekaha. The reserve also contains several threatened plants including Alseuosmia quercifolia, or topara, which is strongly scented in spring.
Since the land was reserved, the fringe areas and lower slopes have slowly regenerated after suffering light logging, fires, pigs, goats, possums, cats, hedgehogs, rats, mice, stoats, weasels and ferrets, with occasional deer and wallaby. Goats, possum and rats are controlled, with possum self-resetting traps trialled in 2011. About of privately owned forest adjoin the reserve, some of which is protected by covenant. Kauri dieback disease is not present, so a boot cleaning station was put at the Huntly end in 2015. Fire is also a threat. In 2017 an area of 600 by 300m on a ridge beside the quarry was burnt.
Quarry
The large quarry at 181 Waingaro Road, Ngāruawāhia, opened in a quarry reserve in 1948 and now goes well below sea-level. It was bought by Brian Perry Ltd in the 1980s and sold to Fulton Hogan in 2016. An extension which would have doubled the size of the quarry wasn't permitted in 2008. It would have taken native trees estimated to be 800 years old. The quarry then employed 13 and supplied about 35% of the area's needs. Environment Waikato granted Perry Aggregates resource consents in 2009, following which bait stations were put in the area in 2011 and the quarry was given Mimico Environmental Awards for that and, in 2018, for extending native fish passage.
Tracks
The range has been used for recreational rambling since at least 1892. There are two main walkways through the range, allowing excellent views of the Waikato Plains below. The main one is Hakarimata Walkwayalong the ridge from Parker Road at the northern end to the Hakarimata Rail Trail at the south. Te Araroa follows that walkway to the summit, where a viewing tower offers vistas towards the coast, across the Waikato Basin and to Ruapehu on a clear day. Te Aroroa drops from the summit by the other main walkway, Hakarimata Summit Track, to Brownlee Avenue in Ngāruawāhia. The steps had 140,000 visits in 2016, compared to 5000 in 2011, shortly after they opened. The remainder of the track south to Hakarimata Rail Trail can be linked by a 1.8 km walk along Waingaro Road back to Brownlee Ave. There are several shorter walks using parts of the Hakarimata Walkway and/or the Summit Track:-
At the northern end, Kauri Loop Track from Parker Road car park starts with a long flight of steps to one of the largest kauris in Waikato, girth and high, estimated to be over a thousand years old. The Southern Lookout has views of Huntly and the north Waikato lakes, Hamilton and Tongariro on a clear day.
