Te Araroa Ready 2-Day Backcountry Skills Intensive

Age requirements:

Suitable for adults and older teens (16+).

Navigation & Route Planning

• Reading Topo50 maps and understanding terrain features
• Route selection and travel planning for multi-day journeys
• Bearings, navigation strategies and decision-making in changing conditions
• Using GPS and smartphone tools alongside traditional navigation

River Awareness & Decision Skills

• Recognising river hazards and assessing conditions
• Decision-making frameworks — when to cross, when to wait, and alternative options
• Understanding how weather and terrain influence river risk

Backcountry Systems & Preparation

• Packing for multi-day travel — what matters and what doesn’t
• Trip intentions and emergency communication
• Weather interpretation for long-distance journeys
• Developing personal systems for safer travel

What to expect

This is a hands-on, field-based course combining practical skill sessions with real-world scenarios. Over two days you’ll build experience navigating, planning routes, and thinking through decisions commonly faced on Te Araroa and other long-distance tracks.

Our focus is not just on techniques, but on helping you develop confidence and judgement in dynamic environments.

Who this course is for

This course is ideal for:

1. People preparing for Te Araroa (NOBO or SOBO)
2. Section hikers planning multi-day backcountry trips
3. Trampers wanting stronger navigation and river awareness
4. Anyone wanting to feel more confident travelling independently in the outdoors.

Accommodation Provided

Off-grid cabin accommodation is available onsite, for participants wanting to stay overnight between course days. This is included in your course registration fee. These insulated bunk-style huts offer a simple DOC-hut style experience with solar shower and composting toilets.

Food

Participants provide their own food. Please bring meals, snacks and water for both days.

Our Guarantee

• No cancellations. We have many sites to choose from to help make our courses resilient. We’ll do our best to run no-matter the conditions. In the unlikely event we have to postpone due to extreme weather, we’ll find a date that works for you.
• Please note we require a minimum of 4 people to run this course effectively.
• No stress. Feel like you need a bit more time to soak in the learning? We can arrange private instruction at a discounted rate to help you get that bit further – so you don’t need to pay for another identical course.