Te Araroa: SOBO vs. NOBO

Many long-distance trails have a prevailing direction of traffic – for the Te Araroa, that’s southbound, beginning at Cape Reinga on the North Island and heading down from there. But there’s always a certain percentage of people who, for one reason or another, decide to head in the opposite direction. I’m going to be hiking the Te Araroa northbound, beginning on the southern tip of the South Island at Bluff and walking up toward the equator.

SOBO?

Why do most TA hikers head SOBO? I think there are a few good reasons. First, the seasonal weather window in New Zealand allows SOBO walkers to begin in October or November in the warmest part of the country during the southern hemisphere’s spring, and finish by March or April (southern hemisphere autumn) in the southernmost part of the country before winter closes in. To me, this seems not unlike hiking the Appalachian Trail northbound, where folks get an early jump on the spring weather in Georgia and finish in Maine before things get too cold and blowy.

Second, SOBO TA hikers begin on the North Island, where approximately 75% of New Zealand’s population resides, and where towns, cell service, and other amenities are within relatively easy reach. This provides a safety net that can be of real use at the beginning of a long hike – and by the time walkers reach the South Island and its more remote wilderness tracts, they’ve had a few months of training and experience.

Finally, the South Island of New Zealand is renowned for its rugged natural beauty, with which SOBO hikers are rewarded after a couple of months walking through the (lovely, beautiful, sheep-filled!) farmlands of the North Island. Again, not unlike heading NOBO on the AT, where the mountains of New Hampshire and Maine provide a dramatic end to months of hiking through the “long green tunnel.”

None of which explains why I’m headed the other direction, and all of which begs the question.

NOBO!

So, why go NOBO? Well, the first reason in my personal case is logistical – I couldn’t get away until January, and if I started out on the North Island then, I wouldn’t hit the southern terminus until May or so – like getting to Maine in November if we stick with our AT comparison. By starting out in the south, I’m beginning in late spring/early summer and walking into a long, mild autumn in the warmest part of the country – thereby stretching the available weather window as far as I can. In my case, the timing constraints were my main motivator – there just didn’t seem to be any other reasonable way to tackle the trail given that I knew I was going to be starting in January.

The second reason some people opt to head NOBO is that they want to guarantee they see the South Island. Some people looking for a remote wilderness experience just do the South Island section of the Te Araroa and leave the North Island out altogether.

And the final main reason some TA walkers go NOBO is that it enables them to avoid the “bubble” of people heading out from the north in October or November. I’m not sure what the statistics are for the TA, but on the Appalachian Trail it’s widely reported that only around 25% of people who start a thru-hike are able to complete it. By this logic, if you’re heading the other direction from the vast majority of trekkers and you meet up with that bubble halfway, the number of hikers you actually encounter will be vastly reduced.

Does Anyone Have a Backwards Guide?

A funny thing about heading the “wrong” way, especially on a trail as young as the Te Araroa (it was only completed in 2011!), is that most written resources are geared toward folks headed in the prevailing direction. As an extreme example, the Te Araroa Trust’s southbound trail guide is updated every season but the northbound version is from 2017 – clearly (and fairly!) reflecting the fact that the SOBO notes are much more useful to the vast majority of hikers. This can make planning a little confusing, especially when it comes to things like following trail notes (“So when it says ‘take a left before the river,’ I actually need to take a right after the river…I think?”).

I’ve been using a couple of resources that I’ve found extremely helpful in planning my NOBO hike. The first of these is the Te Araroa Trail Northbound Guide, which is exactly what it sounds like: a website providing detailed information about every section of the trail from south to north. The author, Athol McCredie, updates the site frequently and I’ve noticed (and been thankful for) several notes he’s recently added about trail conditions in specific locations. I’ve been cross-referencing this with the NZ Department of Conservation’s free online Discover the Outdoors map, which lets you look at any of the country’s major trails using your choice of basemap – I find the topo to be most helpful, but you can also select satellite image or conventional map. The Te Araroa app is also available to download free of charge (Yes, free! Amazing!) and has a function that allows you to select your direction of travel. (Incidentally, FarOut also has their own Te Araroa app, which costs $29.99. Let me know if it’s any better than the free TA app – I’m too cheap to spend the money myself and find out!)

Used together and supplemented by a bit of internet research, I feel like these free resources have given me a sense of what to expect and how to plan my mileage and resupplies along the way.

Note: The image at the top of this post was retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Te_Araroa_Trail_sign.jpg