Rangitoto is one of Auckland City’s more iconic landscape features. Guarding the entrance to the Waitemata Harbour, Rangitoto is a symmetrical, ~6-km wide, basaltic shield volcano that last erupted ~550 years ago shortly after the arrival and settlement of Polynesians in the Auckland region (c. 1280 AD). Rangitoto is by far the largest, and also the youngest, volcano in the Auckland Volcanic Field (AVF). The AVF is a monogenetic volcanic field consisting of approximately 53 individual eruptive centres, all of which are within the boundaries of the Auckland urban area. Recent research has revealed more about Rangitoto’s eruptive history, which may date back to c. 1500 years ago (Shane et al. 2013). Some of these findings have been noted below and will be discussed further while we ascend its summit and explore its various landscape and vegetational features.