⛰️#67 - My Thoughts On Quilts, DOC Data, Zebras, AI Traps & Lots More.

Author

Jub Bryant
March 29, 2026

And we are back with the 67th weekly NZ Hiking Newsletter.

Despite a cruisey weekend, I’m battling to get this published on a Sunday.

As usual, 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. And there’s a bit of a chat about my experience with a quilt so far.

Alright, let’s get into it.

🗒️ Track News Etc.

  • DOC Data About Visitation. Jonty (host of The Tramping Life podcast) found a link buried deep on the DOC website that gives you an idea of how busy tracks/huts/carparks etc. are over various periods of time. Did you know DOC has visitor counters in various places? Can’t say I’ve seen one.

    Of course, for various reasons, this isn’t going to be 100% accurate, but it gives a good idea if you play around enough.

    Check out the increase in popularity of the Earnslaw Burn Track!

    Nerd out here.

  • Ready, Set, Book! If you’re planning to book a great walk next summer (or need any other bookable DOC accommodation), the dates for all the things have been released. Mark your calendars between May 12th and 22nd. Rather than list all the dates here, check out this link for all the details.

  • AI Traps Are In Play. I’m 99% sure other organisations are using AI traps already, but DOC is introducing some on the Heaphy Track. They learn to only trap pests, whereas any curious birds (I’m looking at you kea) won’t be trapped. If we have any chance of being 100% predator-free by 2050, AI will play a big role. Details here.

  • If You’re Seeing Stars Zebra’s…pull your PLB. As John Sharpe did while on a 5-day hike. He was no stranger to the area but he started seeing some zebras in the middle of the track (hallucinations). That’s not an ideal situation…and he rightly pulled his PLB and was extracted 20 minutes later. If he doesn’t…he could well have seen giraffes, rhinos, lions…and things could have neded a lot worse. More details here.

  • Refresh For Great Barrier Huts. The two huts on Great Barrier Island’s Aotea Track got a spruce up thanks to the Backcountry Trust and DOC. The footage in the video makes the track look incredible. I might need to make it happen.

  • More Tongariro NP Fire Details. More details about the exact way sparks from car tyres lit Tongariro National Park have been detailed. Both have determined an accident, but the second one does seem dubious. Accident or not, should the culprits suffer consequences in some form? Details here.

    There was a close call on the Routeburn recently, with a small fire quickly put out by hut wardens, guides, and hikers. It seems to be from a cigarette butt. I assumed smoking in National Parks would have been banned already!

A small fire on the Routeburn, put out before it really kicked off.

  • Wilderness Magazine Photo Competition. If you’ve taken some awesome photos this summer, consider entering them in Wilderness Magazine’s Photographer Of The Year competition. There are three categories:

    • Huts & Camping

    • Out There

    • Wildlife

    Entries close April 26th. Check the T&C’s hand how to enter here.

😹 Hiking Funny

I have no idea what’s going on in this video, but I laughed.

Instagram Post

🏕️ Team Quilt

I have no idea how to do classic, perfect camping spot photos with a quilt. So here’s me keeping warm at Ahuriri Bridge Campsite in Omarama.

People who use quilts instead of a sleeping bag are like vegans. You’ll know they use one because they’ll tell you.

While that’s not exactly true, it sometimes feels like that in various corners of the internet.

While you’ll rarely hear me tell people I’m using a quilt…if the sleeping bag vs quilt debate ever comes up in discussion, after nearly one year of use in NZ and overseas, I’m team quilt.

Note: I was gifted a 0-degree comfort quilt from Kiwi Ultralight which was nice of them. And it’s time to finally say a few things about the quilt (I wasn’t obligated).

The scary part about quilts is the change. I’m guilty of often not liking change, and sleeping bags are all I had known, and they didn’t seem broken per se. It’s likely the same for you.

My biggest fears about using a quilt were:

  • Would it constantly be falling off me during the night?

  • The draft!

  • What if I miss the snug-as-a-bug feeling of a sleeping bag?

They’ve all been busted after using the Kiwi Ultralight quilt in NZ, Japan, USA, Georgia, and Armenia. That’s a variety of conditions and climates.

Help? I’m putting together a full review that I’ll link to next week, and it’d be cool to answer any questions you have. If you have any questions about quilts, email me [email protected] or WhatsApp me: +64 20 4170 2764.

In the meantime, I asked Cody, co-founder of Kiwi Ultralight, some of the main questions I had. He got back to me with some answers.

When Kiwi Ultralight says 'NZ Made', what does that mean exactly? Are all materials imported and fully assembled here etc?

That's right, we import our materials from various overseas suppliers and assemble, size, and stuff the quilts here. Our NZ-made quilts are the one product that we make entirely in house, our other NZ-made products have local sewests pitching in. It is worth noting, depending on how you write this section, that we do also have a line of quilts at a cheaper price point, which are fully made to our spec outside of NZ by a trusted manufacturer (who also makes quilts for several other major quilt brands, several of which you could name off the top of your head). The quality of these is impeccable, and they've been more of a surprise hit with the NZ audience than we expected!

Are quilts getting more popular? Are there any people who are against them?

We definitely see an increasing demand for our quilts. This is likely due to more and more people being able to see them out there in use, as well as discussing them online. Not to mention their clear superiority over bags once you understand the concept! There hasn't been much direct opposition to the concept. However, we do get a lot of emails from people who are keen, but can't quite wrap their head around the pad strap system and avoiding draughts. We have a video [2] which gives a demonstration of using the pad strap system, as well as a detailed "Why Quilts? [3]" page, which clears up a lot of the questions people have.

What's your 10-second elevator pitch on why someone should use a quilt?

A quilt gives you the warmth of a sleeping bag without the unnecessary weight and bulk. By removing compressed underside
insulation and pairing premium 850 fill power down with an efficient pad-strap system, you get a lighter, more compact, more versatile sleep system that reflects the latest in outdoor gear innovation.

More casually speaking, we make quilts because they're a better product. There's no reason we couldn't make sleeping bags, but we're a bit idealistic, and it doesn't make sense to us to sell an inferior product when we're trying to improve Kiwi's outdoor experience!

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

Earnslaw Burn Track, looking good as usual.

Last weekend’s best adventure was the Earnslaw Burn Track as a day trip. The track has become super popular in the last couple of years (confirmed by the graph earlier in the newsletter), and while it was a long weekend (Otago Anniversary), I was still impressed with the 20-30 cars in the carpark.

It’s still one that lots of people underestimate.

The track is beautiful, and I love it up there (I think that’s my fourth time). But we saw two girls who knew they’d underestimated the trip and were aiming to try and get a chopper ride out (willing to pay whatever they could), or they were going to pull their PLB (not sure what happened to them).

Then on the way out we saw two people helping another guy who had twisted his ankle. They were about 2km from the trailhead and weren’t moving fast. Luckily they still had plenty of daylight left.

It’s definitely a hike you shouldn’t take lightly. Leave as early as you can on day one…you won’t regret hanging out in the valley

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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