"Closed" tracks, Egmont

Last weekend, the big swanky Mt Somers hut's 26 bunks were full, there were 30 people sleeping on the floor by accounts and 3 sleeping on the verandah.

great walks tracks are generally extremely labour intensive to maintain, especially in the South Island essentially largely benched footpaths that can be like farm roads..

" essentially largely benched footpaths that can be like farm roads.." -------- Yes, well the cows enjoyed the ease of access created by the 'highway' in the upper West Matukituki

Phillip, when i used to work with various funding agencies, that was the dominant thinking there as well, that stuff is cheap and people are expensive. Izogi, yes, there are areas where boardwalks and wooden steps are prolific, esp around the Pouakai area, and im not sure what the criteria is, i assumed it was erosion management where visitor numbers are highest. Pouakai circuit still is DoCs number one visitor destination and priority. And yes the steel ladders and staircases are also a feature of the park. But what im talking about is vegetation growing over the track, and fallen trees, to the point where i have on several occasions helped lost family groups re-locate the track, having strayed off it. About getting soaked from the overgrowth even on their number one walk. Service standard "tramp", where "clear passage" ie 1.0m corridor is specified. Im not passing judgment about whether any of this is wrong or right, just that its behind in terms of their service standards. For track service standards see: www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/run-a-project/our-procedures-and-sops/track-construction-and-maintenance-guidelines/ www.hutsandtracks.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SNZ-Tracks-and-Outdoor-Visitor-Structures-Handbook.pdf And to come back to the OP, if you dislike the "Mangorei Staircase" (not that fond myself) then the Maude, Kiri and Plymouth Tracks are all splendid alternatives. Forget Dover, itll be years before they get to it.

The "boardwalks" were actually installed as corduroy over muddy places many tracks without it in wet patches turned into bogs the corduroy has moved on to raised steps/staircases etc, the logic is still the same many feet in those soils = lots of mud In some places, theyre merged into the grass cover, other they never will don't like them myself, but think theyre unavoidable, in high use tracks PS, the chap that was prosecuted, was a local tramper. not sure if he got fined. was a track on the western side of Pouakai. Think DOC want volunteer work to open it up now, if it hasn't already been done

@TararuaHunter: are you saying that DoC want volunteers to open up the track that the local tramper was prosecuted for opening up a few years ago? I was a bit nervous when I heard about this prosecution a few years back as Frank and I had opened up quite a few overgrown tracks though we hadn't constructed new ones. They were old NZFS ones that generally led to underused huts and bivs. At one point, a DoC bureaucrat got snotty with me when I said we would mark the track to Ranger Biv now that it was saved from being removed in a pogram in the eastern side of Arthurs Pass National Park. He said it was an offence to destroy flora or suchlike in a national park.

How long ago did it happen? So far I can't find a reference, but I did find this Taranaki article from last year, which indicates people *will* be prosecuted if caught. http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/68876065/unofficial-walking-tracks-in-taranaki-pose-a-risk I don't believe there's any legislation which makes track forming illegal in itself, but I guess DOC could try go after people for indirect things like ecological damage (cutting branches?), or littering (with track markers). I get that various people in DOC are concerned about park users following "unofficial" tracks which aren't up to its standards and running into problems, but one must wonder how on earth DOC manages to cope in the rest of the country, throughout much of which unofficial tracks are ubiquitous. In related news, it looks as if a couple of people were prosecuted by DOC Taranaki last month for taking dogs into Egmont National Park. http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/79744156/Conservation-breaches-lead-to-convictions-for-trio-of-Taranaki-men

Many will know that there are 3 or 4 unofficial tracks that are maintained by the climbing clubs to get access to the major climbing routes. These have been community maintained for decades, and are in good shape. But the most recent time they were cut was last year, and the clubs involved were given a token telling off by DoC. They werent hooligans or anything but people well respected in the clubs. It seems like an bit of an uneasy situation, given those tracks have been there longer than DoC has. I have it from a reliable source that the hunters also use them from time to time.

Do you happen to know if DoC in Taranaki is showing any interest in working with community groups for this type of thing at all? Is it annoyed because it doesn't want new tracks, or because people are cutting them completely under the radar without coordinating with DoC?

It's better to work on tracks without coordinating with DoC as otherwise (I believe but bush lawyer izogi will correct me if I'm wrong) working as volunteers for an organisation with paid employees means the volunteers fall under the OSH regulations which is then an obligation and hassle for DoC. Until recently with the establishment of the Backcountry Recreational Fund, we have always operated in this way and DoC have consistently expressed gratitude for our contributions to keeping the tracks clear and thus the huts visited. Of course, if one wants reimbursement for costs, then that is a different matter. I think when one opens up/recuts these types of non-official tracks it's important to leave the start of the track where it turns off from the DoC track reasonably unkempt so as not to lead people who don't intend using them astray but with obvious non-DoC marking e.g. permolats or cruise tape for those that are looking for the start of them. DoC will come and go, but the tracks from days past should remain even if only out of respect for those that created them.