Considering Te Araroa Trail

Friends of mine completed the TA recently.

Here’s a podcast they recorded.

The second half of the show is coming out soon.

The consensus was they enjoyed the second half; the first half was lackluster.

May be a case for  forging your own route. Cam Honan of The Hiking Life once told me that the TA is akin to hiking the PCT if it skipped the High Sierra.  Shawn Forry (Pepper) did his own routes on the TA as he thought it would be more interesting versus the designated route. Take those opinions FWIW.

That is my reasoning for Northbound, other than the time of year, so I if I got tired of hiking or my body broke down, at least I hiked through the best part.

Hey Paul, I listened to the entire podcast. I am definitely skipping the north island. Any idea when the second podcast for the south island will be up?

Justin,

I have “A Walking Guide to New Zealand’s Long Trail – Te Araroa” by Geoff Chapple. I’d be happy to let you borrow it for background/planning purposes with a few conditions:

— Don’t mark in it or damage it/dirty it up/etc. It was a gift from a Kiwi friend and I plan to actually use it myself someday.

— Pay shipping both ways.

PM me if you’re interested.

Doug

http://www.teararoa.org.nz

https://www.facebook.com/TeAraroaNewZealandsTrail

Some more useful links:

TA wiki: http://tawiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

Open Facebook group of past and present thruhikers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/26638669574/

Some recent TA blogs:

http://kiwiscoutwalksteararoa.blogspot.co.nz/ Pat went NOBO on the SI

http://restless-kiwi.blogspot.co.nz/ Kiwi UL tramper

http://nancyhikes.com/blog/ US hiker who done other long trails before

All above have interesting daily blogs of the trail.

Another US UL hiker blog: https://asthetrailturns.wordpress.com/te-araroa-s-island-2014-2015/

One suggestion is get a $90 DOC six month hut pass that allows to stay in most(all) the huts you’ll encounter on the TA. The hut system is quite an unique part of NZ tramping culture and I think well worth using and experiencing (also on wet/windy/cold days the huts give the opportunity to dry out and warm up).

Weather: Most people seem to walk the whole trail in 4-5 months (120-150 days). Some are faster (90-100 days), so assuming you take 2-3 months and starting January takes you through to April. The one thing about NZ weather is that it changes frequently and often rapidly particularly in alpine areas. You generally don’t get the extremes of hot and cold that you might get in the US. It is certainly possible/has personally happened to me to get thigh deep snow in the alpine regions (Arthurs Pass/Waiau Pass/Nelson Lakes/Richmond Range) in March/April (rare) but the occasional snow flurry should be anticipated.

Otherwise generally the summer weather is pretty benign ranging 5-30°C, although you will get a certain amount of days with rain/wind. It seems suitably vague, just like the weather forecast…

Prepare for the worst, hope for best.

What’s the longest stretch without a resupply? Are there sections where I need to carry a lot of water? Trying to figure out how much pack volume I need.

Probably the sections between Arthur’s Pass to Boyle Village (Hurunui – Harper Pass – Goat Pass 5-8 days) then to St Arnaud (Waiau Pass-Nelson Lakes 5-8 days), then to Havelock (Richmond Range 6-10 days). The Richmond range huts’ water supply (rain water tanks) can run dry during late summer/early autumn (when you’re likely to past through).

Do I need a shelter with bug protection?

I would, to avoid the sandflies/mossies/wasps.

Are there long stretches above the treeline? Normally I use my tarp and pitch it off trees but if I’m going to get stormed out a lot above the treeline I should probably have a mid.

There are quite a few stretches/areas where there are no trees. Usually in these areas, DOC huts are available spaced several hours apart in strategic locations (although not necessarily optimal for the TA thru-hiker).

Are there sections where you can’t camp out wherever and have to stay in a hut/hostel/developed campground?

Check the TA trail notes/blogs but generally in the towns along the way yes you do, private land no camping is allowed without permission from the landowner, and in Public/DOC land camping is allowed anywhere (with some exceptions).

What kind of weather should I be prepared for? I’ve heard that you can get days of rain, but is it generally warm rain or cold rain? Does it get cold enough when it storms to consider carrying rain pants? Should my western mountaineering 32 degree summerlite get me through the entire thing or should I have a slightly warmer bag?

See notes above about weather above. Yep you can get rain and wind for days, whether it will be warm or cold depends on many many things. I carry rainpants for any tramp above the bushline but hate wearing them unless the weather is really bad (i.e. hypothermic cold/wet/windy). A 0°C bag is probably OK for the SI TA during the summer months, you may pushing the comfortable limits when into late March-April in the alpine regions, but you can always wear a down puffie/thermals as well.

How much cash $$$$ should I have to spend? I would buy all my food along the trail.

Difficult to say on this as there are lots of variables. There have been some comments on the Facebook page and blogs that range from NZ$3000-8000. Food and replacement gear are probably more expensive than in the US.

I’ve also written about tramping in NZ in more general terms in some of my previous posts here.

Second episode posted…http://thetrailshow.com/the-trail-show-46-new-zealand-part-2/

Hey Paul, I actually just started listening to it a few minutes ago.

WHY NOT just got done hiking it , you may want to check her blog, I was last in New Zealand 15 years ago so none of my info will be very useful, but I do really love it there and(at least when I was there)it was cheap.

We hiked the South Island a couple years ago & found it quite good. I posted a lot of info from our experience.

http://pbakwin.altervista.org/TA-SI-SOBO/TA-SI-SOBO.html