Adventure Hoppers

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 […]

Wednesday, December 20, 2023Distance/ Total: 35 km / 21.7 mi paddling I was excited to get on the river and was up at 5:30 am. I had all my gear packed up in barrels for the canoe trip and headed up to the Taumarunui Canoe office for the safety orientation before the trip. They provided coffee and homemade bread while […]

Monday & Tuesday, December 18-19, 2023Distance/ Total: 4.8 km / 3.0 mi I slept in Monday morning and finally left the motel a little after 8:00 am. I had less than 5km to Taumarunui Canoe Hire where I would find out if I was able to get on the Whanganui River before the Christmas holidays. I arrived a little after […]

Sunday, December 17, 2023Distance/ Total: 25.0km / 15.5mi The trail today is all roadwalk into Taumarunui and I wanted to get it out of the way so I could get to town and clean up. The roadwalk was pretty uneventful and I think I only saw 1 car in the first 15 km. As I got closer to Taumarunui the […]