⛰️#38 - Hump Ridge Track Stats, Track Closures, Country Calendar, Great Walks Opening, & More.

And we are back with the 38th NZ Hiking Newsletter, sent every Thursday/Friday.

I'll let you know what’s going on in the hiking scene in New Zealand, along with other related bits and pieces I find interesting.

Alright, let’s get into it with a quiz. Woohoo.

How many people took on the Hump Ridge Track in the 2024-2025 Great Walk season?

A. 1,877

B. 2,622

C. 3,076

D. 4,122

The answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

🚶Great Walk Booking Season Opens Soon

It’s that time of the year again! For some of you, it won’t affect you at all…but bookings for the Great Walks start on May 15th. There’s a staggered system this year, with 9.30am on May 15th the day to pencil in your calendar if you want to book the Heaphy, Kepler, or the Rakiura (other walks as per the booking schedule) for dates from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.

For those waiting to book Backcountry huts, lodges, and sole occupancy facilities from 1st July 2025 to 30 June 2026, they open 9.30am on May 13th.

Don’t wait until 9.30 am, though, as there’s a lobby-style system which you can read about here. I’ll be very impressed if it all goes smoothly…

If you book one of the above walks, let me know how you’re experience goes with the new booking system. Email [email protected] or WhatsApp +6420 4170 2764.

😹 Hiking Funny

Insert your favorite hiking/outdoor store below

🗒️ Other Track News Etc.

• As the peak hiking season draws to a close, there’ll be some upgrades happening to some of the more popular huts and tracks. Two popular ones coming up:

  • Pinnacles Hut and Summit Track (Coromandel). From Monday May 12th to June 21st, the hut will be closed for refurbishment (installing insulation, false ceilings and double-glazed windows ) and the same goes with the summit track (drainage work and boardwalk installations), though you’ll be able to walk that track in weekends as a day trip. More details here.

  • The Cathedral Cove track was closed on May 8th and 9th, for 5 conifers to be removed. More details here.

• Is Country Calendar and Sam The Trap Man a collab you didn’t know you needed in your life? Then you’ll want to check out this episode of Country Calendar on TVNZ on Demand.

• Radio New Zealand decided to bring on a DOC staff member to address a topic we’ve always thought about…how do they decide how long a walk will take? There’s a 17-minute episode chat you can listen to. The method they talked about did seem to contradict what this article from Wilderness says though.

• The news about missing hiker, Eli Sweeting, on Mitre Peak (Fiordland National Park) has been shared widely, so this isn’t likely news to anyone reading this…but it’s not looking like it will be a good result (purely my opinion). The hiker was last seen on Sunday and was reported missing that evening after not making contact. There’s been an epic response from Search and Rescue searching for him, in very difficult terrain. As of Friday evening, Eli’s family has arrived with his sister reporting today, “There has been a light spotted at a point along the route down the mountain and all efforts have been focused there”. It’s hard to know what to make of that. I won’t like to any specific articles as updates are coming through regularly (I’ve just been searching ‘Mitre Peak hiker’ to get the latest updates). Here’s hoping there’s a miraculous result!

• In a different kind of hiking adventure, siblings Jean Bonner and Steve Wilson hiked 249km along the course of Taieri River, an area they grew up around…but for most of us, we’d have to jump on a map to know where the river even is (Google Maps link). They described much of it as ‘Tiger Country’. More details here.

• A family of six (four children) has completed the Te Araroa over 218 days. There’s a nice write-up here on RNZ, and you can check out their Instagram account @gumbootsandsneakers.

• A new book I’m looking forward to reading was released this week. It’s called Fire & Ice: Secrets, histories, treasures and mysteries of Tongariro National Park by Hazel Phillips. The subtitle has me sold. I like the idea of becoming an expert at one National Park. You can listen to an interview with Hazel on RNZ, and read an extract on the Waikato Times here.

🎁 A Couple Of Competitions To Enter

• Win Some Curranz - enter here (entries close May 11th)

• Arc’teryx Winter Weekend Giveaway - enter here (entries close July 8th)

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

Despite having a four-day weekend, I stayed local and did a few of the usual local trails, which were quite good. It’s always crazy how much time packing for an overnight adventure takes me, so it was nice just to be able to get out the door.

This week it’s looking like it’s much the same, local tracks win. I did get a chance to publish the Gunsight Pass blog though.

🤔 Quiz Answer

Answer:

D 4,122

That’s 33% more than the previous year, and 250 people more than the best season on the Hump Ridge Track. That meant the huts were at 90% capacity, which is pretty good. Based on my napkin math, the Pinnacles Hut mentioned above gets about 50% occupancy rates.

~83% of the 4,122 hikers were ‘freedom walkers’, with the rest of them guided walkers. That seems like a pretty solid balance. It appears that the Hump Ridge Trust want more guided walkers…but then it’s losing its essence a a great walk. Who knows.

Source for these stats: https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360674995/record-numbers-walk-hump-ridge-track-season (I opened it incognito to escape the paywall)

Have a great week, hike it up.

As always, reply to this email (or message me on Whatsapp +642041702764) with anything and everything…I’m happy to chat.

Chur,

Jub

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