When people think about building strength, they likely picture lifting weights or taking a high-intensity exercise class. Walking is often dismissed as “just cardio” or something you do to reach your step count or get some fresh air.

But walking acts as far more than a calorie-burning activity. It’s one of your body’s most fundamental movement patterns. How you walk affects pelvic alignment, core stability, hip mobility, balance, breathing and even how your nervous system regulates tension. In many ways, walking provides the basis for building and expressing strength.

Think of walking as the daily foundational practice that sets the stage for how powerfully you can move in the gym and in everyday life.

Read more on this story and check out other outdoor headlines like: Women are being ‘alpine divorced’ by their partners while hiking, large kea flock gets RFID chips and the hiker walking the length of Aotearoa in traditional Japanese sandals in this week’s The World Outdoors.

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Take a look at this week's most read articles at wildernessmag.co.nz.

Te Araroa Trail has grown and developed exponentially over the past 12 months, says Te Araroa Trust executive director Matt Claridge. That includes more walkers, more infrastructure projects and greater community engagement.

“A growing area of interest for us is the increase in New Zealanders on Te Araroa. Over one third of registrations this season are New Zealanders, up from just under a quarter last season.”

Claridge attributes this to cheaper registration for Kiwis than internationals, and more positive associations with the trail, which he says the trust has worked hard to foster.

Infrastructure upgrades have taken place around the country, including the Link Pathway extension in Marlborough, a re-route in Northland, more rafts laid on Burttons Track in Manawatū and funding has been secured for the Whangaehu River bridge.

The cute and quirky Mangamuka Hut is a basic four-bunk hut with an open fireplace in the Bay of Plenty region.

Originally build by the NZFS in the 1970s as a deer culling hut, the rustic hut has seen updates by the Kaimai Ridgeway Trust (KRT) including installing a new roof, adding aluminium joinery, painting and adding a woodshed.

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