Fancy a hike up Mt Awful or a meander down Ugly River?

In launching its new name, Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission (formerly the Walking Access Commission) has been highlighting a few of the backcountry’s more misleading placenames.

There’s Westland’s pristine Cesspool swimming hole, the Slippery Dick Bridge on Ōpārara Valley Track (not as hazardous as it sounds), and the zero-alcohol Rum River that feeds into Fiordland’s Kaikiekie/Bradshaw Sound.

Heaven’s Door on the Old Ghost Road is not so heavenly when the weather turns sour, while Roses Hut smells anything but when full of Te Araroa Trail walkers.

Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa said its former name wasn’t quite right.

“Trails aren’t just for walkers, they’re for all of us,” the commission maintained.

“Herenga ā Nuku refers to the rich connections we find on the trail – with the whenua [land] and its stories, with ourselves, and with each other.”