Te Araroa: Biggest season yet creates logistical problems for New Zealand’s longest walk

Brian Doughty says the Te Araroa trail faces an issue with the lack of space in six-bed backcountry huts. Photo / Bevan Conley

Te Araroa’s biggest season yet is wrapping up but as the number of walkers on the trail grows so, too, do the logistical problems facing trail organisers.

Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa (Outdoor Access Commission) trail manager Daniel Radford said the hospitality shown by locals was an incredible part of the trail experience, but it shouldn’t be depended on.

Te Araroa is the 3000km trail that covers the length of New Zealand from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

“People should be able to legally and safely camp or have accommodation offered and it needs to be there without relying on people or asking for it online.”

Walkers often counted on the goodwill of locals or “trail angels” for sections of the trail where camping was prohibited.

Te Araroa Whanganui Trust member Brian Doughty said walkers often picked Whanganui as a place to stay and refuel their supplies after biking, walking or canoeing along the river.

“Whanganui will always benefit, although it’s not huge amounts of money.”

Los Angeles-bred hiker Andrew Schlerf walked the trail this season and said it seemed to have an over-reliance on locals, especially for some no-camping sections in the North Island.

“I didn’t have any issues with locals but if you didn’t feel comfortable staying at a person’s house, you don’t necessarily have an option otherwise.

“You can only stick up a tent in the bush on the side of the road.”

Schlerf said there were only so many kilometres you could hike in a day and this could put lone female trampers in a difficult position.

Los Angeles hiker Andrew Schlerf successfully completed the Te Araroa trail this season. Photo / Supplied

Doughty said the spaces in backcountry huts had become a “huge problem”.

“If 12 people are in a six-bunk hut and it’s snowing or pouring with rain and they get caught outside, it’s not good.”

Radford said the options for trampers arriving at packed huts were to walk on, sleep on the hut floor, or camp outside.

“These are six-bunk huts with at times 15 people showing up in alpine environments.”

Doughty said he did not think the number restrictions in backcountry huts were a safety issue.

“It’s for them to manage themselves and we give them all the information about our weather and trail conditions.”

Radford estimated there were 3000 walkers in the present season, the biggest year yet, although this number could be even higher because not every person who walked the trail completed an online registration form.

Radford said the Te Araroa Trust was committed to working through the problems brought about by rising numbers.

“We don’t have our heads in the sand, we realise how many people are out there and we can’t pretend it’s not going to grow.”

Te Araroa Manawatū Trust member Paula De Goldi said this year might have been an outlier because international travellers were delayed in previous years by the border closure.

“You kind of need to wait until next season to see what the numbers are going to be like and whether they reduce.”

Te Araroa Manawatū Trust member Brian Way said Palmerston North was a struggle for walkers to find cheap accommodation because there was no backpackers or hostel.

Way said if numbers persisted, New Zealand might have to look to the organisation of long-distance American trails.

“There might be a need to spread out the start dates because there’s a big number of hikers going through in January.”

Schlerf said trail maintenance would need to increase as degradation became worse from large numbers of walkers.

Radford said most of the trail was on public conservation land, but there were easements and access agreements that had been negotiated with landowners throughout the North Island.

“Our goal is to have legal and enduring access for all the trail, but we do not have that.”

Doughty said when the trail started there were only 600-700 through-walkers a year.

“It wasn’t sold to farmers that there was going to be 3000 walkers going through and it’s having an impact on how some of them think.”

Radford said severaal access agreements had expired and the Te Araroa Trust was actively working on tracking those landowners down and renewing them.

As for the continued popularity of the trail, Schlerf said he thought the number of international hikers was bound to steadily increase.

“Generally speaking, the Te Araroa is considered the top international trail besides the Camino de Santiago that many American through-hikers would like to do.”