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

The Tongariro Northern Circuit will not be opening as usual this season, but walkers can look forward to a brand new Oturere Hut in years to come.

This means the Great Walk experience is off the table for the 2025-26 season. However, the tracks remain open and trampers can still book the other huts on the circuit individually. Those bookings are expected to open in July.

Libby O’Brien, the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) operations manager for Tongariro said the department was working with local hapū Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro on a replacement for Oturere Hut. At more than 50 years old, it had sprung a few leaks. “It just doesn’t give a good visitor experience,” O’Brien said.

The walk between the two huts on either side – Mangatepopo and Waihohonu – without stopping at Oturere is 20 kilometres and takes between 8 and 10 hours. The route passes through steep, rough alpine terrain with fast-changing, extreme weather. DOC does not recommend people hike this route unless they are very fit and experienced trampers.

The new hut was in the final planning stages, with construction due to begin in the summer. Read the full story from RNZ.

DOC reveals surprising toilet paper stats

DOC has revealed how much toilet paper was ordered by regional offices around Aotearoa for the 2024/2025 period, a whopping 15.5 million metres nationally. That’s roughly 15,500 kilometres of paper which would stretch the length of New Zealand nearly ten times.

The figures reveal across DOC’s operational regions the most toilet paper was ordered by the Southern South Island which includes Fiordland and the Great Walks (3,103,037 metres), followed closely by the Northern South Island which includes Abel Tasman Great Walks and the iconic Tōtaranui campground (3,069,369) and in third place, Hauraki Waikato Taranaki (which includes the Coromandel) 2,727,160 metres.

Daryl Sweeney looks after DOC sites in Canterbury, “It’s shocking how much toilet paper is used. Sometimes it’s piled up beside the toilet in a mountain. The state some of the toilets are left in is also appalling to be honest,” he says.

North Canterbury Operations Manager Leeann Ellis says, “Many people don’t realise this is a core role DOC undertakes. It takes a huge amount of time for our rangers and some of what they deal with would turn your stomach.” Read the full press release from DOC.

Hikers report a companion dead, but it was just the ‘shrooms

Two hikers mistakenly thought a companion, the third member of their hiking party, was dead and reported the false death. However, they were later determined to be in “an altered mental state” after ingesting mushrooms, according to officials.

A forest ranger responded to a call on Cascade Mountain in New York State after two hikers called 911 to report the death, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, DEC. The two hikers also told the Cascade Summit Steward that they were lost. 

“The steward determined the hikers were in an altered mental state,” the agency stated. The third member of the hiking group was not injured, reported the DEC. 

The hikers had reportedly eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms, according to the statement. The hiking duo was escorted to an awaiting ambulance and a New York State Police unit. The ranger also escorted the third hiker back to their campsite. Read the full story from USA Today.

Milford Track booking sell out in 40 minutes

Demand for the Milford Track remains high, with the Great Walk selling out in just over half an hour. The booking system has faced multiple crashes and false starts over the past two years, often coinciding with the opening of the popular Great Walk and causing frustration for trampers and tourism businesses.

This prompted the Department of Conservation to upgrade its website and add an online queue system to ease the pressure. Director of heritage and visitors Cat Wilson said the new system coped well. “Really pleased that people have had a much better experience,” she said.

“We had 11,800 people queuing in the lobby at around 9:30 just as bookings opened and they were all into the booking system to make bookings for the 7000 spots on the Milford.” It was all done and dusted in about 40 minutes. Read the full story from RNZ.

DOC reopens Blue Pools Track after two years of repairs

The Department of Conservation is re-opening the popular Blue Pools Track north of Wānaka this weekend, after two years of repair work. Walkers can expect to see an upgraded Blue Pools bridge, a completely new Makarora swing bridge and a new, raised boardwalk. DOC closed the bridges in May 2023, when engineering reports signalled they needed safety upgrades.

Previously, DOC operations manager Charlie Sklenar said they were being used by as many as 550 people a day in peak summer. “At times, 75 people would cross the bridges each hour and visitors were regularly exceeding the signposted ‘safe number of people to cross’ advice,” she said. “We needed to ensure these structures were safe for the public.

Sklenar said the work had been a two-year slog, involving DOC engineers, contractors, specialists, geotechnical consultations and some “unexpected complexities”. Sklenar said the community was buzzing about the opening. Read the full story from 1 News.