Strong legs, smaller, softer steps and hiking poles make downhills easier Credit: Yvonne van Eerden
Walking downhill comes with a hefty hidden price-tag on our bodies. The loading on our leg muscles and joints increases dramatically, and our knees in particular cop much of it. In fact, the forces in our knees are about six times greater on a steep descent than on flat ground.
On longer tramps these stresses can cause knee pain, muscle damage, fatigue and overuse injuries. In fact, in 2025, over 85 per cent of tramping-related injuries reported to ACC were soft-tissue injuries, most commonly involving knees and ankles.
We came up with six tips to help you ease the pain and prevent injury when walking downhill.
Missed yesterday’s feature? Summit the remote Fiordland peak every tramper should bag.
Quiz
Golden Bay is at approximately the same latitude as what North Island town?
A - Wellington
B - Whanganui
C - Palmerston North
D - Levin
Scroll to the bottom of this email for the answer…
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Recipe: Watercress, kale and parsley spread
This is the perfect winter spread to utilise the greens in the garden.
Photo: Maddy Bellcroft
Profile
Prep time: 10 min
Ingredients
½ cup parsley (tightly packed)
1.5 cup watercress (tightly packed)
1.5 cup kale (tightly packed)
1 cup sunflower seeds
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
3 tbsp nutritional yeast (or parmesan)
1 tsp sea salt
3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Method
Wash and clean watercress. Strip leaves off the hard stems of kale and discard stems. Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and mix until leaves are broken down and sunflower seeds are ground. You may need to stop and scrape the mixture down from the sides of the bowl. If it’s not turning over add a little extra olive oil. Taste and add extra salt to your liking.
Transfer into container and store in fridge, if you’re taking it tramping, it should last 2-3 days depending on temperatures.
Poll results
On Monday we asked Wilderness Daily readers if they use hut tickets or a backcountry hut pass.
The results are in: 63% of you use hut tickets, 35% use a backcountry hut pass and 2% of you roll the dice and don’t pay at all.
Here is a selection of comments from our readers:
[Hut tickets] “I believe in user pays, and contributing to maintaining our huts to enable us to visit & stay in some amazing places.”
[Hut pass] “Belonging to FMC gives you a discount on the Hut Pass. Doesn’t take many hut stays to pay for itself.”
[Hut tickets] “Always have a supply of hut tickets”
[Hut pass] “Hut pass can be used at Ces Clark hut (the only great-walk hut you can do this). Have stayed at that hut 11 times now.”
Have a question you want to ask your fellow Wilderness Daily readers? Send us an email at [email protected]
Quiz answer
Answer D - Levin
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