It was just about a year ago that my wife, Heather, and I decided to hike the Te Araroa (TA), a 1860 mile (3000 km) trail through New Zealand. We are both very pragmatic and detailed people, so immediately a host of to-do’s flooded our minds as we entered into six months of preparation.
Now that sounds like a crazy amount of time to plan, however, we met some folks on the trail who decided to attempt such a feat with only a few weeks preparation. Each person has their own style, and some trails are more forgiving than others. The TA is a much more logistically flexible thru-hike since you are closer in proximity to society than other walks such as the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
If you are considering a thru-hike, allow me to walk you through what all went into our decision-making process and preparations.
Our Background
Heather and I had many backpacking experiences prior to meeting one another. In fact, it was our common love for the outdoors that brought us onto one another’s radars. In particular, Heather did the John Muir Trail (JMT) in 2015, and I in 2016. While we had very different experiences – Heather took 30 days and I took 14 to do 220 miles; do the math – we both had the desire to attempt a long distance thru-hike. We wrote down a list of priorities in life and some key steps to make our dream possible.
Timing – When can you carve out the time?
On a really pragmatic level, if you don’t have the time, you need to make it. This is particularly hard if you are coming from American culture, where in my opinion, we overwork.
We talked about starting a family in the next few years, and Heather was also about to start a career change. For us, it was now or never. Once those two things took off, we might not have the chance to spare 6 months for at least a decade.
We were initially set on the PCT, but after talking to some folks, the intensity in terms of distance per day seemed more than we were looking for. Moreover, the PCT season did not quite line up with our life events. After much discussion, we landed on the beginning of 2019 as our start date. (Ironically, people who have hiked both the TA and PCT say the TA is harder.)
Pick Your Trail – Te Araroa, PCT, AT?
Part of the timing will determine what trail you will do. This includes distance, location, seasons, etc. Since an April start date wouldn’t work for us, we looked into other options and discovered the TA.
We were in New Zealand for our honeymoon at the beginning of 2018, and we absolutely loved our time there. Knowing a thru-hike existed there got us really excited.
Unfortunately, the start date was September, which wouldn’t work in 2018, and we also didn’t want to wait a year. However, we realized that going the opposite direction changed the start date. If you can’t start a trail at a given date, consider hiking the opposite direction. It worked out that a January start date was perfect!
Money for the Te Araroa
With our date set, the next step for us was figuring out if we could even afford a trip like this. There are some great resources out there breaking down the cost of thru-hikes, such as backpacker.com and more importantly Facebook groups. The Te Araroa Facebook group was a goldmine of information for us. Any questions we had about cost, food, gear, etc., we found there, along with a variety of spreadsheets, recommendations, and experiences.
After we got a rough idea of cost (plane tickets, accommodation, food, gear, insurance, transportation, medication), we took a hard look at our finances to see how we could make it work. We set a budget (around $10,000 for 5 months) and gave ourselves plenty of wiggle room with savings for when we returned. Be sure to make a weekly budget you can keep track of so you don’t run out of money too quickly. Stuff adds up fast.
If you want a real quick way to plan for saving, take your monthly rent and save that for however many months you will be out. We moved out of our apartment so we didn’t have that expense while we were gone, and our spending worked out to about our monthly rent.
What About Work?
Since Heather was going through a career change, she quit her job. This is an easy and clean option if you are in a place where you just need a break from life. Totally fine, but there are other options out there.
Since we need insurance for some medications, I asked my work for a six-month leave of absence to make sure we had some stability upon return. I explained our situation to my employer, and they were more than happy to let me go with the condition I put in at least an additional year afterwards. I am super grateful for their support. If possible, I highly recommend it. If you think your employer would let you do something similar, check your employee handbook to see what they allow; you might be surprised.
Preparing for Our Te Araroa Journey
Once we got the big items in order and a date set, we began to prep for our journey. Once again, Facebook Groups are invaluable, especially if you are new to backpacking. If you have no experience, I would recommend doing some physical training and going out with experienced hikers. Especially if you are pursuing a more remote trail, please take time to educate yourself and gain some level of experience. There are so many unfortunate and easily preventable injuries and even deaths each year.
Case in point: On the TA, your feet are wet most days. It is therefore pointless to cross rivers with your shoes off. We tried rock hopping for the first few weeks, but one day -which happened to be my birthday – we both slipped on some rocks and fell in the river right before we got to our hut for the night. Our entire bags were soaked. We couldn’t sleep in our tent, so we ended up sharing the last bunk in the hut. We didn’t sleep.
Apart from slipping on rocks and potentially hitting our heads, we both knew river crossing safety such as un-clipping our chest straps. Each year, dozens of people drown in river crossings and are found with their chest straps still buckled. Please do your homework.
In regards to our physical preparation, we both had the experience necessary, but life did not allow us to get into the best shape we could, so we suffered for the first few weeks. You don’t have to do crazy amounts of training because you will walk yourself into shape. But definitely have some base level of fitness before going on your walk.
Packing
There are many styles to packing for thru-hikes. I won’t go into detail here, but you can check out our packing list on our blog. We went a little fancy and brought some unnecessary, but delightful items (#backrests).
Food on the Trail
We consider ourselves “foodies,” and taking heaps of backpacker meals is simply not practical, nor sustainable, for backpacker palates. There are so many ways to approach food, but the TA afforded us the opportunity to go through many towns to resupply. Sometimes we only had 3 days to go, so we would grab pretty much whatever we wanted from grocery stores.
Some guidelines you might want to consider:
- Calorie dense foods (nut bars, chocolate, cheese, butter). It’s worth the weight.
- Eat what you enjoy. You don’t have to eat only trail mix. We made quesadillas and grilled cheese on the regular.
- Couscous is a vessel for flavor (chicken stock cubes + butter + spices + cheese = heaven)
- SPICES. They can create so many variations of food like couscous.
- Add powdered milk to everything.
You will face what is known as “hiker hunger.” About 90% of the time, we fixated and obsessed over food and what we would eat for our next meal. I actually lost 20 lbs the first month! I had also never seen Heather hangry before. We often carried more food than needed but trust me, it’s worth the weight. Trail fudge = magic.
Some trails require packing and shipping food ahead. We were fortunate to only have to pack one food shipment. But before you plan out all your food, remember that your tastes will change. So what sounds good to you today, might be the last thing you want to eat on the trail.
Embrace the Te Araroa
Similar to food, don’t try to make a day-to-day plan that you HAVE to stick to. Life happens. Opportunities arise. And nothing is better than when trail angels show up out of nowhere and have exactly what you want.
We were hiking and trying to hit a big goal one day, when a lovely couple named Warwick and Ketha were parked up in the middle of nowhere and offered us a seat. We ended up chatting with them for an hour about their trail experience while they fed us coke, cheese, crackers, jam, chocolate, cookies, fresh fruit, and juice. It was divine. Had we been too stubborn to stick to our plan, we would have missed such an incredible opportunity. There is so much more than just getting from point A to point B. Sometimes you have to press on, but it’s okay to flex.
Take the Time to Reflect
One of my favorite things we did was talk about a high and low from each day. What was your favorite part? What was challenging? Asking yourself these questions, journaling, or talking with a friend about your experience will help you make sense of it as well as solidify it in your memory. On top of that, we took time halfway and at the end of our journey to talk through each day alongside the photos we took. This is so helpful for deciding what was impactful as well as burning it into our long-term memory.
Give Yourself Time When You Get Back
Before we jumped right back into life, I gave myself three weeks before starting work and Heather took a month before jumping into school. You might experience reverse culture shock, grieve the loss of the trail, or need time to find a place to live. Taking the time to process and get sorted will allow you to step confidently back into life and slowly adjust.
It’s not the easiest process for some, but starting work two days after you finish your trail may leave you rather disoriented. You get very used to the simplicity of hiking, so you might want to adopt certain aspects into your “normal.”
The resourcefulness we developed on the trail inspired me to garden, make sourdough bread and yogurt, and even reuse paper towels. You don’t have to leave everything behind. Find things that remind you of your experience you can hold onto and share with your community.
I hope you find these things helpful. If you ever want to connect about thru-hiking, hit me up @hellohelsby on Instagram. To learn more about Te Araroa, check out our hiking blog!
Some Additional Questions for Miles:
- How old were you and Heather when you started your Te Araroa hike? I was 27 and she was 33.
- What are your careers? I work in marketing at a university and Heather is transitioning from a 10 year career at universities working in student development and career services to occupational therapy.
- Have you noticed any positive effects on your careers? It was simply nice to have a break from the last 5 years of working. It feels like a reset and work feels surprisingly refreshing.
- Besides the incredible memories, how did your hike change your outlook on life? I was astounded by people’s generosity and simplicity. We are blessed to have so much in America, but we fixate on so much “stuff.” Life on the trail allowed us to be present with the people and situations right in front of us instead of our next move or how to get ahead. Deep down I already valued these, but the trip reinforced their value.
Be sure to check out the Year Off Stories page for more inspiration!