Re: Trail Notes for 2014/2015 season

[kimo]

Yes there will be changes to reflect the current status of the route. Some sections that are closed for logging may reopen. We will complete negotiations with landowners to open better routes that will eliminate road walking. We are building more tracks and even a large bridge across the Whangaehu river near Wanganui. We now have a page that has notes on major changes. We are down to an annual update of the map series, down from quarterly a few years ago as the track was being developed. The notes are intended to be more dynamic than annually but will be unlikely to have changes large enough to affect planning.

Realistically in the large scheme of things these changes are mere details in the whole 3000 km. There is always a bypass around closed parts.
When you begin walking you will still have to adapt your plans to allow for tides, weather, sudden closures and your own health and injuries.

On Sunday, 5 January 2014 15:20:58 UTC+13, Marilyne Marchand-Gouin wrote:

Hello,

I am planning to start hiking Te Araroa at the end of November 2014. I was wondering if I can use the current trail notes to start planning my trip, do you expect a lot of modifications to be made to the current version of the notes?

Thank you!

Marilyne

[Mike Lissner]

Thanks for the response about the notes. Quick question... I'm a current hiker and I just checked out the page here:

http://www.teararoa.org.nz/trailstatus/

I hadn't found this page before, so it's great it exists. One thing that's hard though is figuring out which changes apply to me. Two thoughts... first would it be possible to number or letter the sections in the notes? Numbering could be done with decimals so that if a section is later broken up, the numbering could be divided. Lettering is done on the pacific crest trail, and works well to give an intuitive sense of which section is being changed or discussed.

Second, maybe just putting mileage numbers on the chart would be helpful, so people less familiar with the trail can quickly see what applies to them. I imagine this is tricky though since the changes often change the mileage...

Anyway, I'm loving the page and the trail. Thanks for all your efforts.

Mike