Lake2Lake Trail: Control Gates to Balloon Loop Road
Te Anau · Southland
This walk was suggested by the community and checked against the authority quoted above before it was published. The route line comes from official track data. DOC’s own wording: “DOC lists the public conservation land between the Te Anau Manapouri road and the Waiau River as a dog access area where no permit is needed (DOC, Fiordland dog access page and the Upper Waiau River Dog Access Areas map). Fiordland Trails Trust, which manages the trail, says "dogs are allowed on the trail but they must be on lead". The land here is stewardship area under the Conservation Act, not national park. The national park begins on the far bank, so do not take a dog across the control gates or the Rainbow Reach swing bridge”. Evidence: the rule-setter’s own published wording. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
Dogs are allowed here. Keep them on the lead, watch for ground-nesting birds and stock, and read the signs at the gate.
About Lake2Lake Trail: Control Gates to Balloon Loop Road
Lake2Lake Trail: Control Gates to Balloon Loop Road is a big walk of 15.3 km, near Te Anau in Southland.
The Lake2Lake Trail runs from Te Anau to Manapouri, and this is the long middle stretch of it: from the Lake Te Anau control gates, where the lake pours into the Waiau River, south along the true left bank to Balloon Loop Road. It is a wide gravel path, graded easy, built and maintained by Fiordland Trails Trust and shared with cyclists. The river is beside you for most of it, through beech forest, scrub and open river flats, with Queens Reach at about 6 km and Rainbow Reach at about 12.5 km from the gates. Start at the Kepler Track car park and shelter on Golf Course Road, where there is parking and a toilet. You do not have to walk the whole thing. Fiordland Trails Trust has put in road access with parking at Queens Reach Road, Rainbow Reach Road and Balloon Loop Road, so you can take any piece of it and turn around, or leave a second car. On the ground the dog rule is simple: stay on the east bank and keep the lead on. DOC lists this corridor as an open dog access area with no permit needed, and the trust asks for dogs on lead. What you must not do is cross the water. Two swing bridges tempt you over, one at the control gates and one at Rainbow Reach, and the far bank is Fiordland National Park, where having a dog is an offence under the National Parks Act. The Kepler Track starts on that side. Treat both bridges as the end of the line. Mobile coverage is patchy south of the control gates, which the trust's own boards warn about, so tell someone your plan. The river is fast and cold and the banks drop away in places, so keep a young or bouncy dog close near the water. There is no water tap between the gates and Balloon Loop Road, so carry your own. Beyond Balloon Loop Road the trail is not finished and users are put onto the SH95 verge, so this is a sensible place to turn back with a dog. The leg north of the control gates, back along the lake to the visitor centre, is not part of this page, but it is the same rule: DOC confirmed on 26 August 2026 that dogs are allowed on a leash from the visitor centre through to the Kepler Track carpark, and that they may be taken on a leash for the whole length of the Lake2Lake Trail, Supply Bay included.
Expect hard going, with around 211 m of climb, and takes about 3 hr 24 min to walk.
Dogs are allowed here, on the lead. This walk is on the map because Daniel & Zola suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
