Waiaua Gorge Hut to North Egmont Visitors Center 28 km, total 41.5 km, 11h 55m (0820-2015) I had a restless night for some reason and was already awake when the German Girl started getting ready. I got up once she left and had a leisurely breakfast before cleaning the hut and leaving about an hourContinue Reading “Around The Mountain, Mt Taranaki, New Zealand – Day 3”
Stony River to Waiaua Gorge Hut 10.5 km, total 23.5 km, 5h 55m (0950-1545) It started raining at 0200 and thankfully it woke me so I could close the door of my tent and go back to sleep. I woke up at 0900 and went though my morning routine smoothly except for when I pickedContinue Reading “Around The Mountain, Mt Taranaki, New Zealand – Day 2”
North Egmont Visitor Centre to Stony River (GR 877 533 NZ Topo Mao BJ29 1:50 000) 9.5 km, total 13km, 6h 25m (1110 – 1735) I have always wanted to do the Around the Mountain Circuit of Mt Taranaki (formerly Mt Egmont) but for some reason had never gotten around to it. Mt Taranaki isContinue Reading “Around The Mountain, Mt Taranaki, New Zealand – Day 1”
(24km, total 1267 km, 7h 50m, 0810 to 1600) We all started getting up around 0700. I had my normal breakfast of the meal replacement shake, muslea and fresh blueberries and was packed quickly. Before heading in separate directions we took a photo which is a bit more unique than the others. Great bunch ofContinue Reading “Day 51 – 17 Aug, Kvepsendalskooia Shelter to Sauvasshytta Hut”
(35 km, total 1113 km, 10h 50m, 0730 to 1820, distance and time to where I left the track for the hut which is 1km off track). I had a very interrupted sleep as the rain was so hard at times it was waking me up. The rain is loud on my tent, soundingContinue Reading “Day 41 – 30 Jul, Valtarjakdaien Hills to Balvasshytta”
(26.5 km, total 597 km, 7h 55, 1020 to 1815) I woke just befoore my alarm and had another long shower. I did some quick repair work to refix the waist belt to the bottom of my pack. It was then breakfast time and it was a fantastic breakfast, scrambled eggs, crisy bacon, sausages, cheese,Continue Reading “Day 25 – 14 Jul, Kilpisjarven Retkeilykeskus to Bridge near Paltsastugan Hut”
Planning the resupply was the most challenging part of planning this adventure. There are a lot of remote areas I travel through and not many large towns. In order to reduce the weight of food carried I would have preferred to be able to resupply every 5 days but this is not possible most ofContinue Reading “Resupply Plan”
I have finished the detailed planning for my route and am looking at just under 2,600 km. This distance is based on google creating routes. The routes smooth out the bends in the track so I think the actual distance will probably be around 2,600km. You can access the kml file on googgle earth whichContinue Reading “Detailed Route Planing Finished”
The first decision I had to make was what direction to walk in. Slightly more people walk north than south as it is easy to get to and they can get their trail legs of the roads before heading into the wilderness. Also it is warmer in the south and not as much snow toContinue Reading “What Direction to Walk”
As there is no official route there were a lot of decisions to make to select my route. I researched through blogs to see what other people did and where possible download GPX tracks. I also found on www.traildino.com a GPX track for the E1 trail which is ¾ of the NPL and also someContinue Reading “What Route to Take”