Sunday, December 31, 2023Distance/ Total: 19.4 km / 12.1 mi I rained through the night again, although mostly just a sprinkle. I didn’t want to get up and since the office was closed when I arrived last night, I had to go in at 8:00am and pay for my campsite. I packed up my gear and went to the kitchen […]

Saturday, December 30, 2023Distance/ Total: 34.8 km / 21.6 mi The rain continued through the night and it was still raining in the morning. The rain came in waves – heavy rain for a few minutes, then sprinkling for a few minutes. I sat on the front porch of my cabin and watched the clouds blowing by. By about 7:00am […]

Friday, December 29, 2023Distance/ Total: 28.1 km / 17.5 mi It started raining about midnight and continued on until this morning. knowing it was supposed to rain all day I wasn’t too anxious to get up and out into it. I forced myself up and packed up all my gear inside my tent. I then crawled out and packed up […]

Thursday, December 28, 2023Distance/ Total: 33.8 km / 21.0 mi Staying at the canoe camp always means an early morning. The guest going out on the river are up about 5:30 because they have to have everything packed up before going to orientation at 7:00am. I stayed in my bed until about 6:00am and then started getting ready. I took […]

Wednesday, December 27, 2023Distance/ Total: 6.9 km / 4.3 mi After 2 days off trail and 9 days without hiking I am excited to get back to covering some distance on foot. Today, however, is just going to be a short roadwalk into Whanganui to the bus station so I can return to Taumarunui and pick up where I left […]

Monday & Tuesday, December 25-26,2023Distance/ Total: 0 km / 0 mi I’m taking two zero days in Whanganui for the Christmas Holidays. I spent Monday just resting around the campground and visiting with the people there. There were a lot of travel trailers decked out with Christmas trees and lights for the holidays. It was strange to me to be […]

Saturday, December 23, 2023Distance/ Total: 33.2 km / 20.6 mi paddling Another early morning. It seems hikers can’t sleep past about 5:30am and everyone is up and moving around. It was still a slow morning and Andi and I were loaded up and ready to go about 7:45am. It wasn’t a big day and we weren’t in a hurry. The […]

Friday, December 22, 2023Distance/ Total: 39.2 km / 24.4 mi paddling We were up and around by about 7:00 am this morning and Andi and I were the first ones on the river. About 2km from camp is one of the worst rapids in the river and it’s nicknamed 50/50 because that’s your chances of making it through without tipping […]

Thursday, December 21, 2023Distance/ Total: 44.8 km / 27.8 mi paddling Andi and I got a relatively early start this morning. We were the 2nd canoe out of the camp at 7:30 am. We had a long day today and wanted to get started in time to also hike out to the Bridge to Nowhere. We stopped just before the […]