Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Moderate A walk with challenging terrain, often involving longer distances and steep
climbs.
Demanding A walk with long daily distances and difficult terrain with significant elevation
change. May involve challenging route-finding and high-altitude travel.
Each track is also graded in accordance with the official DOC ( www.doc.govt.nz ) categor-
ies:
Walking Track Gentle walking from a few minutes to a day on mostly well-formed tracks.
Great Walk/Easy Tramping Track Comfortable multiday tramping on mostly well-formed
tracks.
Tramping Track Challenging day or multiday tramping on mostly unformed tracks. Back-
country skills and experience required.
Route Challenging multiday tramping on unformed tracks. Navigation and high-level back-
country skills and experience required.
The NZ Hut System
A DOC maintains more than 950 huts in its national parks, conservation areas and reserves.
While many were purpose-built for trampers and climbers, others stand as a legacy to indus-
tries such as forestry, farming, mining and deer culling. Today they form a network that of-
fers cheap, character-filled accommodation in the most unlikely places, a unique and highly
treasured feature of the NZ back country.
A Huts come in all shapes and sizes. The flashest specimens are generally Great Walk Huts,
large multiroomed buildings equipped with such comforts as solar lighting, kitchen sinks,
gas cookers, flush toilets and a hut warden. But even at the bottom end of the scale - in biv-
vies and basic huts - you'll still get a mattress, some kind of water supply, a toilet (possibly
a long drop) and a fireplace, all going well.
A The majority of huts operate on a first-come, first-served basis, paid for with DOC's
Backcountry hut passes or hut tickets. Popular huts, however, must be booked in advance
during peak season.
A Often imbued with history, providing ready access to deeper wilderness, and offering
shelter from the elements, NZ's huts are also special for their sociable atmosphere. An even-
ing spent in a hut - in the company of strangers who share similar passions and have the
stories to prove it, huddled together around the fire - is a quintessential NZ tramping experi-
ence.
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