The Pinnacles Walk, also called the Kauaeranga Kauri Trail, is the best full-day outing from Thames. The track follows an old packhorse route used by kauri bushmen in the 1920s, climbing from the Kauaeranga Valley to Pinnacles Hut and then up ladders and rock steps to the lookout.
DOC gives the walk to the hut as 6 km one way, with the return summit trip usually taking six to eight hours if done in a day. Many walkers stay overnight at the hut, but a fit traveller with an early start can do it from Thames and still be back in town for dinner. The reward is a high, rough view across both sides of the Coromandel Peninsula.