Moria Gate Arch is a natural limestone formation in the Oparara Basin, north of Karamea within Kahurangi National Park. The Oparara River has carved a low, broad passage through the rock, creating a cave-like opening framed by dense temperate rainforest, mosses and ferns. Its name refers to the Gates of Moria in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, an association reinforced by the shadowed interior and monumental stone ceiling. The river’s tannin-stained amber water, dark reflections and luminous green vegetation give the arch its distinctive photographic character, especially from the forest track that forms part of the Moria Gate and Mirror Tarn loop.
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