![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tbo-media.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/07011448\/NZ2-154-Hiker-at-rim-of-Mt.-Ngauruhoe-Tongariro-N.P.-NZ.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Super Volcanoes: Hiking the Steaming Peaks of Tongariro National Park<\/a><\/h3>\nHaving explored some of the most fascinating landscapes in the world that were born of volcanic activity\u2014Yellowstone<\/a>, Iceland’s Landmannalaugar<\/a>, Mt. St. Helens<\/a>, Idaho’s Craters of the Moon<\/a>\u2014I have to put Tongariro, on New Zealand’s North Island, right up there with the best of them. I hiked to the rim of one volcano there, Mt. Ngauruhoe, that erupted 45 times in the 20th century, and had a bird’s-eye view of another, Mt. Ruapehu, that ranks among the world\u2019s most active volcanoes. The colors in this stark, nearly barren environment defy description; check out the photos in the story linked above.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Canoeing](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tbo-media.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/07011450\/NZ2-208-Day-2-Whanganui-River-Whakahoro-to-Pipiriki-NZ-1024x680.jpg?resize=640%2C425&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Canoeing the Whanganui River, North Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRiver of Many Stories: Canoeing the Whanganui River, North Island<\/a><\/h3>\nAs soon as you dip a paddle into the Whanganui River, you begin to understand why the country’s native Maori people believe that every bend in this stunning waterway had a mauri, or \u201clife force.\u201d Paddle for three days or five days down this unbroken gorge of sheer sandstone and mudstone cliffs soaring up to 200 feet straight out of the water and draped with jungle-like foliage in infinite hues of green, where ribbon waterfalls pour in straight, pencil-thin lines down the walls. You may discover your own life force.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"Dart](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tbo-media.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/07011446\/NZ2-107-Dart-River-Cascade-Saddle-route-1024x680.jpg?resize=640%2C425&ssl=1\")
<\/a>The Dart River, above the Dart Hut on the Rees-Dart Track.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOff the Beaten Track: Trekking the Rees-Dart in Mt. Aspiring National Park<\/a><\/h3>\nAlthough just spitting distance from the world-famous and enormously popular Routeburn Track, the longer and more rugged Rees-Dart remains largely overlooked by the hordes of international trekkers. Yet, it has scenery copied and pasted from the same Southern Alps template: golden grasslands, roaring waterfalls, glaciers and whitewater rivers, and lush and otherworldly forests of moss-draped, twisted beech trees. And incredibly, my companion and I found ourselves walking most of each day without any other hikers around.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"Doubtful](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tbo-media.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/07011445\/NZ2-42-Hall-Arm-Doubtful-Sound-Fiordlands-copy.jpg?resize=640%2C392&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Kayakers in Doubtful Sound, Fiordland National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nInto the Mystic: Sea Kayaking Doubtful Sound in Fiordland National Park<\/a><\/h3>\nNew Zealand’s largest national park, Fiordland, sprawls over nearly three million acres of the southwest corner of the South Island\u2014an area as large as Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks combined. It’s home to another world-famous hike, the Milford Track, and other worthy adventures that are relatively accessible. But deep in Fiordland’s wilderness lies Doubtful Sound, a 30-mile-long fjord where cliffs rise straight up out of the sea to 4,000-foot summits\u2014sheer, Yosemite-like granite walls improbably sprouting a vertical jungle of podocarp trees and other indigenous vegetation, thanks to upwards of 23 feet of rain annually. On an overnight sea kayaking trip around upper Doubtful Sound, I saw native crested penguins and paddled on an often mirror-flat sea reflecting soaring cliffs choked in rainforest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Michael Lanza Have you adventured in New Zealand yet? If not, then why not? Some of my all-time favorite assignments for Backpacker magazine have involved trekking and paddling on this island nation with an amazing bounty of natural beauty and a outdoors-loving culture to match it. This is the time of year to start planning a visit during the … <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n As soon as you dip a paddle into the Whanganui River, you begin to understand why the country’s native Maori people believe that every bend in this stunning waterway had a mauri, or \u201clife force.\u201d Paddle for three days or five days down this unbroken gorge of sheer sandstone and mudstone cliffs soaring up to 200 feet straight out of the water and draped with jungle-like foliage in infinite hues of green, where ribbon waterfalls pour in straight, pencil-thin lines down the walls. You may discover your own life force.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although just spitting distance from the world-famous and enormously popular Routeburn Track, the longer and more rugged Rees-Dart remains largely overlooked by the hordes of international trekkers. Yet, it has scenery copied and pasted from the same Southern Alps template: golden grasslands, roaring waterfalls, glaciers and whitewater rivers, and lush and otherworldly forests of moss-draped, twisted beech trees. And incredibly, my companion and I found ourselves walking most of each day without any other hikers around.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n New Zealand’s largest national park, Fiordland, sprawls over nearly three million acres of the southwest corner of the South Island\u2014an area as large as Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks combined. It’s home to another world-famous hike, the Milford Track, and other worthy adventures that are relatively accessible. But deep in Fiordland’s wilderness lies Doubtful Sound, a 30-mile-long fjord where cliffs rise straight up out of the sea to 4,000-foot summits\u2014sheer, Yosemite-like granite walls improbably sprouting a vertical jungle of podocarp trees and other indigenous vegetation, thanks to upwards of 23 feet of rain annually. On an overnight sea kayaking trip around upper Doubtful Sound, I saw native crested penguins and paddled on an often mirror-flat sea reflecting soaring cliffs choked in rainforest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Michael Lanza Have you adventured in New Zealand yet? If not, then why not? Some of my all-time favorite assignments for Backpacker magazine have involved trekking and paddling on this island nation with an amazing bounty of natural beauty and a outdoors-loving culture to match it. This is the time of year to start planning a visit during the … <\/p>\n<\/a>River of Many Stories: Canoeing the Whanganui River, North Island<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Off the Beaten Track: Trekking the Rees-Dart in Mt. Aspiring National Park<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Into the Mystic: Sea Kayaking Doubtful Sound in Fiordland National Park<\/a><\/h3>\n