Navigating Te Araroa
Using apps to not get lost on the trail
The trail is marked with orange triangles. The quality of the markings varies greatly. Navigating ONLY by the triangular markings might be very difficult. Some of the markings are missing, sometimes the trail is rerouted due to damage, and sometimes there are multiple trails. Probably the most helpful app in this regard is the Guthook app for the Te Araroa Trail. Unfortunately, the app is rather expensive at just under 40 euros, but the investment is worth it. The trail is mostly accurately displayed in the app. The mastered kilometers are clearly visible. Especially helpful are the comments of the respective markers in which other hikers point out various things such as damage, good food, good accommodation or rivers to fill up water. There are other apps and some of them are free. Before buying, it might make sense to try the others first. Key information/markers in the Guthook app include: Trail, elevation profile, streams and rivers (often not accurate), supermarkets (incomplete), accommodations (incomplete), detours and the comments in the markers.
Furthermore, the sections are described relatively detailed by the Te Araroa Trust in the Trail Notes . These are available free of charge. Please remember to make a donation to the Trust. We mostly read the trail notes for the next section for a rough overview and then relied on the Guthook app in the comments. We did not use printed maps ourselves.
The route divided into sections can be view here for example: Google Maps - Te Araroa Route with Marker