🏔️#68 - Drink Wine to Help Huts, Mueller Hut Update, Hiking Fraud, Fun Fleece Story, & Lots More.

And we are back with the 68th weekly NZ Hiking Newsletter.

Something random I learned this week was that some people will put their sleeping bag inside their sleeping bag liner. The idea is to keep the warmth of your sleeping bag trapped. That’s a new one for me.

Anyways, this weeks newsletter is a goodie (I think). There’s good news & bad. The two international stories remind me how lucky we are here in NZ.

Hope y’all are having a great long weekend!

Alright, let’s get into it.

🗒️ Track/Hut News Etc.

• Mueller Hut Gets An Update. If you’ve got Mueller Hut booked in the next couple of months, you can look forward to a hut that is both warmer and drier. The hut was closed for a week or so last month, with 26 helicopter trips needed to get all the equipment and people in for the final touches of the reno.

  It wasn’t a good weather week window, but they got the work done in the end. Here’s to another 20 years of good times at Mueller Hut (sidenote: it’s now $55/night to stay there). Press release here.

• Humpridge Viaducts Closed. I missed the memo that a couple of the viaducts on the Humpridge Track (the newest Great Walk) were closed for safety reasons. While the Humpridge Track is still open thanks to alternative routes, the South Coast Track is off limits for most due to no realistic option to bypass the closed Francis Burn Viaduct (unless you’re super experienced).

  While one viaduct remains open on the Humpridge, hopefully they can get the others up to safety standards as they do add to the Great Walk. Maybe they should have been upgraded while they were prepping the track to become a Great Walk? Press release here.

• More Gear Stories Like These. The photo above doesn’t tell you much, right? But the story behind this photo of an Earth Sea Sky fleece is cool.

  The fleece has been sitting inside a kit bag floating about the ocean since 2015 after falling overboard near Adams Island (which is here - it’s remote).

  Recently, the kit bag washed ashore, and somehow the fleece was returned to its original owner, Kath Walker (conservation scientist). The only damage? Some holes in the right sleeve. You’d take that if you knew you wouldn’t see your fleece for 10 years, with the journey it’s been on! Full story here.

  😹 Hiking Funny

🗒️ More Track/Hut News Etc.

• Nelson’s DOC Visitor Centre closes. The city’s DOC visitors centre has been closed after a reported consistent drop in traffic numbers. DOC visitor centres are super helpful, and with everyone (DOC/MSC etc.) mentioning safety more than ever…it seems as though closing a DOC visitor centre that’s close to 3 national parks goes against that theory?

  Anyway, Nelson Mayor Nick Smith isn’t going to have the DOC centre simply forgotten with a good speel about the closure here.

• Drink Wine To Support BCT. Next time you’re looking for a bottle of wine…and you spot a bottle from Red Hut Wines, consider grabbing one. Why?

  Red Hut Wines recently formed a 3-year partnership with the Backcountry Trust, where every bottle sold will see a portion go to the BCT (in addition to the regular contributions Red Hut Wines already makes).

  So in addition to having a half-decent bottle of wine (I haven’t tried it, but a $20 bottle sounds pretty fancy), your friends will think you’re a really good person once you give a little blurb about the BCT x Red Hut Wines partnership. Details here.

• Live Location Coming Soon To NZTopo App? This NZ Topo App is my favourite topo map for NZ, and there’s an interesting upgrade in the works. As satellite mobile data is now coming to both One and Spark networks, you can, in theory, share your live location at all times.

  The developer behind the app is currently testing the feature. This is a feature that most will love, many will hate and refuse to use…but it’s another potential arrow in your safety quiver. Mentioned here.

• Paywave Donations Reach $22,000. In addition to paid parking at Punakaiki, a paywave donation barcode saw $22,000 in donations since October 20th. That’s a lot more than I would have guessed. Apparently, the old donation methods of metal pipes saw people rip them out with their cars 😲 …so perhaps this is a better method. But not flawed. It looks like more locations are being considered…another way for DOC to generate some revenue (I assume mostly from international visitors) seems good to me. Read more here.

• Te Araroa Registration Fees. This year Te Araroa Trust made it mandatory for international visitors to register and donate if they were walking the trail. In the past, there were recommendations on donation amounts….but as you can imagine, very few people donated the recommended amount.

  This year, registrations earned $326,000. But there was a dropoff in 40% in international registrations. So there are dozens, if not hundreds walking the trail without registering. If I were to register from overseas and saw the $1350 registration fee, it would sting!

  It’s complicated, with the TA only having three full-time staff, compare that too the Appalachian Trail with 50 full-time staff (and millions in Federal Grants)…that’s crazy.

  All that to say, there was some interesting articles on the Te Araroa:

  • Part 1 and part 2 in this series talk about some of the people involved in making the trail, and the support they get.

  • Te Araroa Trust Trail Manager Dan Ragland had an interesting response to a hikers question in the TA Facebook group that was useful to read. Read here.

• Love Our Huts Wraps Up. The final numbers for the 2025/26 Love Our Huts summer have been confirmed. 391 Individuals/groups registered for 550 backcountry huts. Hopefully, over 90% of the 550 were actioned? That seems like it’d be a good result.

  Spot prizes have been awarded by FMC. Check your inbox or the FMC Facebook page.

  • The FMC also released their 2025 Annual Report. Read here.

🗒️ Some International Trail News

• US Forest Service Being Dismantled. In US news, the US Forestry Service is being dismantled with HQ moving from Washington to Utah, and most if not all regional offices being closed. I haven’t read too much into this yet, but it seems like it’s something everyone should be across. This seems like a good detailed article about what is happening.

• Hectic Fraud On Nepalese Slopes. In concerning news, it seems like mass insurance fraud on the slopes of Nepal has been unearthed. Some guides have even gone as far as dosing hikers with excess baking soda to promote gastro-distress meaning a chopper needs to be called to remove the hiker from the mountain…which they profit from.

  Give this article a read to get more of an idea of what’s going on.

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

It was a great weekend staying local. I took a tumble running a week or two ago. So while there wasn’t any interesting trails, I did plant some trees with the Reforestation Trust near Lake Hayes. That’s something I’d like to do on a more consistent basis.

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

p.s. get your friends to sign up to the newsletter: https://nzhikingnewsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe