Mt Taranaki stands about 25 kilometres from the sea on the west coast of the North Island, roughly half-way between Auckland and Wellington. It is alone apart from the eroded remnants of the more ancient Kaitake and Pouakai volcanoes. They date from 500,000 and 250,000 years ago respectively, while Taranaki is assumed to have begun building up 70,000 years ago. It has had long periods of dormancy followed by violent eruptions. It last erupted in 1755 and there is some debate as to whether it is now extinct or merely dormant.

Maori tradition holds that Taranaki once stood alongside Mt Ruapehu and Mt Tongariro in the central volcanic plateau, but a dispute over the affections of the beautiful Mt Pihanga caused Tongariro to blow his top and drove Taranaki to flee to the coast. He carved the channel of the Whanganui River as he went and as he slept by the coast, heartbroken, he was trapped by the Pouakai Range. Misty, rainy weather on the mountain is said to be a sign of his loneliness and grief for his lost love.

It certainly rains a great deal on Taranaki. The prevailing west to south-west winds bring fronts that slam against the mountain, delivering 6,500 to 8,000 mm of rain a year. Consequently the slopes are riven by steep-sided valleys and numerous slips and streams. After rain, streams swell from step-across trickles to thigh-deep raging torrents, and waterfalls (on Holly Hut track, pictured) suddenly pour down. Being an alpine area so close to the sea, the weather is even more extremely changeable than much of the rest of the North Island. Sixty-two people have so far been recorded as having died on the mountain, most of them climbers.

It was made a reserve in 1875 and became Egmont National Park in 1900. The park extends out to a radius of 9-1/2 kilometres (6 miles) from the summit and at the boundary there is an abrupt transition from tall, ancient rainforest to fertile pastures and farms. Due to its isolation from other alpine areas, the vegetation has evolved many locally distinctive variations and there is a complete absence of beech trees. The lower slopes are clothed in a luxurious forest of rimu, matai, miro and rata, while a mossy 'goblin forest' of kamahi and kaikawaka (mountain cedar) covers the higher slopes. Above the treeline a dense low scrub with tree daisies, mountain five finger and needle-leaf grass trees clings to the edges of alpine ridges clad in golden, waving tussock grass. There are over 300 kilometres of tracks ringing the mountain, ranging from daywalks to summit climbs or the 4-5 day Round the Mountain track.

A while ago the New Zealand government pondered the serious issue of whether the mountain should retain the name of Mt Egmont (given to it in 1770 by Captain Cook in honour of the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Egmont) or revert to the original Maori name of Taranaki (meaning 'bare peak'), which is also used for the whole region. After spending much time and probably an inordinate amount of money considering the problem, the government decreed that the mountain could be called either Mt Egmont or Mt Taranaki.

Historically, the Taranaki region has been the site of much bloodshed and warfare, firstly between the local Ati Awa tribe and northern tribes armed with European muskets, and then between European colonists (who had bought land from these temporary northern invaders) and the returning Ati Awa tribe. In the 1870s local Maori developed the peaceful agricultural commune of Parihaka under the leadership of the prophet Te Whiti O Rongomai, who preached non-violent civil disobedience. It was a peaceful attempt to retain some of their land and their culture. However, in 1881 it was razed to the ground by colonial militia and Te Whiti was imprisoned. The government knew that they would have trouble convicting him of any crime, so they introduced a special law to keep him detained in prison without trial indefinitely. Some degree of redress is now available to Maori through the Treaty of Waitangi Commission.