Hiking the Te Araroa Trail

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

So it all started like it always does. A planted seed of adventure in the back of our minds just grew too big to be ignored. After another hectic season of working hard in the Yukon Territory, that old feeling of restlessness kicked in once again. With butterflies in the stomach, we wanted to be on the move, we needed to go somewhere new. To set a goal and then reach it. My girlfriend and I work six months a year and we work hard, but only to allow ourselves to live our dreams. Every year as winter approaches, we are ripe for another great adventure. Well-seasoned trampers by now, we seek the never-flat mountain ranges of the world. For a few precious months a year we make a slice of the planet our playground. Let’s leave comfort for something else. I need to drink from wild rivers. My hungry lungs want to be filled with mountain air. Each year seems to fly by a little faster than the last and I feel that I am running out of time. Randomly, we picked this adventure out of a long list that seems to only get bigger with age. This adventure wouldn’t be the first or the last. This year we are going to walk the Te Araroa...

Raphael Chevalier shares a story detailing this hike on New Zealand's Te Araroa trail - take a look at the full article in Issue 47:

Challenge and Beauty on New Zealand’s Te Araroa

Issue 47 Page 1