Diamond lake and Rocky Mountain loop circuit

Wanaka is surrounded by many great mountains to hike. The most famous is Roys Peak but there are many other like Isthmus Peak, Treble Cone, Mount Iron or Mount Alpha.
Rocky Mountain is not one of the highest but it is one with some of the best views. You can enjoy great views not only from the top but also from many other parts of the track.

The Rocky Mountain track is an official track from the Department Of Conservation in New Zealand.

The track starts at the parking near Diamond lake. It is a small parking that gets really busy since this is a quite popular track. At the parking you can find a toilet.

We start walking on the track and after only 600 meters we get to Diamond lake. We go around the lake and we start going up. Quite soon, about another 600 meters, we get to the Diamond lake lookout. This time we can see it from above. From this spot we also have great views of the mountain in front of us, End Peak.
We continue our ascent and we get to a junction. We have two options to get to the top, "via western track" and "via eastern track". Since they make a loop we decide to go up following the western track and come down on the easter track making the route a clockwise loop.

The Western track is a bit steeper and rockier. There are a few sections with stairs to make it easier to go up. The Western track is also a bit longer, about 400 meters longer.
We continue moving forward and pretty soon we get to the summit. The views from here are spectacular. Some of the best views you can find in a mountain. On one side you have Wanaka lake and on the other you have great snowy mountains with Mount Aspiring (3033 m) among them.

To go down we follow the Eastern track enjoying the views of Wanaka lake from multiple spots. You will find more grass on this side although the track gets a bit narrow in some spots where we have to be a bit more careful.
We continue our descent and pretty soon we are back at the Diamon lake lookout and the car park a bit further down.

In summary, short walk, steep at some spots with magnificent views from the summit.



Full description and more pictures at Back from Summit: Rocky Mountain