A wrap of the biggest stories and best writing about the outdoors from New Zealand and around the world.

Annabel Streets has just published a book, 52 Ways to Walk, which describes the scientific basis for much of what we’d call common sense or folk wisdom – and so much of it is rooted in leaving the house and going for a walk: getting the sun on your skin can help your immune system, and there’s nothing harmful in getting covered in mud. In fact, it can help your gut health.

“I wanted to show people all the reasons there were to walk,” she says. “Even in the darkness, even in the rain, there will be something that part of us will respond to, whether that’s physiological or emotional or cognitive.” Read the story at the Guardian.

Te Araroa: Biggest season yet creates logistical problems for New Zealand’s longest walk

As the number of TA walkers grows, so do the logistical problems facing trail organisers. Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa trail manager Daniel Radford estimated there were 3000 walkers this season. “We don’t have our heads in the sand, we realise how many people are out there and we can’t pretend it’s not going to grow,” he said.

Te Araroa Whanganui Trust member Brian Doughty said overcrowding in backcountry huts had become a “huge problem.” Te Araroa Manawatū Trust member Brian Way said if numbers persisted, New Zealand might have to look to the organisation of long-distance American trails. “There might be a need to spread out the start dates because there’s a big number of hikers going through in January.” Read the full article in the NZ Herald.

Search and Rescue go bush for the annual Tautuku Cup

More than 80 Land Search and Rescue volunteers from across Southland and Otago competed to see who would take this year’s Tautuku Cup.

Katie Brennan, the group support officer for New Zealand Land Search and Rescue for the Southern Region, said this year’s event was round-robin style with field teams being put through their paces to show off their abilities in fire making, first aid, stretcher carrying, radio communications and portable repeater set up, observation and compulsory pack checks.

Brennan said it was a great day filled with healthy rivalry between the teams. ”It’s a good thing for the teams to look forward to each year, good for training and all the rest of it,” Brennan said.

While they all gave it their best, the overall winners were the Dunedin LandSAR team taking out the Tautuku Cup. Read the full story at Stuff.

Watch two Alaskan monster grizzly bears go at it

You may think twice about that overseas tramping trip in North America after watching these two grizzly bears battle.

Naturalist and Alaskan wildlife guide Brad Josephs recently shared what he calls “the longest, most intense bear interaction I have ever witnessed in my 25 years of guiding on the Alaska peninsula” 

The battle between the two enormous males was captured on May 8, at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Watch the full video at Backpacker.

New satellite messenger on the horizon?

Documents published on May 11 by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) suggest that Garmin may be about to release a new handheld inReach satellite communicator.

Details are scant but it is described as a “portable transceiver” that is a “handheld with rechargeable Li-ion battery pack, belt clip, AC adapter, USB cable.” Most notable is that it will also have Wi-Fi connectivity, which would allow users to download maps through Garmin’s Map Manager. This suggests it will likely be a larger device with a screen. Read more about the device at Yahoo.