subject: Te Araroa Pathway The Adventure Of A Lifetime [print this page] Te Araroa Pathway The Adventure Of A Lifetime
If you are a hiker and the thought of the John Muir trail and the Pacific Crest trail fills you with eager anticipation then New Zealand has a surprise for you. Te Araroa Pathway is New Zealand's newest long distance hiking trail. When complete it will extend from Cape Reinga in the north to Bluff in the south. It will be 3000 km or about 1,864 miles long.
It is being built by the Te Araroa Trust. It is expected to be finished before the end of 2010. Parts of it are already open and eager hikers are already putting the trail to good use. It has been estimated that it will take hikers approximately 4 months to walk the full length of the trail .
While the idea of a path the length of New Zealand has been talked about for a long time Geoff Chapple is credited with bringing the idea to life. Author, journalist and avid hiker Geoff Geoff initially walked the length of the country himself along existing trails. He searched for places to create links that would connect the old routes to provide one continuous trail. He founded Te Araroa Trust, and rallied support for the project with the publication in 2002 of his book 'Te Araroa - The New Zealand Trail'
When complete the trail will provide hikers an opportunity to see an amazing diversity of landscapes. From volcanoes in the north to fjords in the south the scenery changes rapidly. New Zealand is a relatively new country both in terms of geology and culture. It's probably the last significant land mass to be discovered and settled by Europeans.
Because it is the country is rather thinly populated the trail might pass beaches that are deserted. It goes through forests are pristine and undisturbed forests. The Te Araroa Trekking trail also goes through seven cities and many acres of farmland. Mountain climbers often claim their reason for climbing a particular mountain is "because it's there". In contrast the slogan of the Te Araroa Trust is "because it wasn't there".
