Thanks for taking the time to add to our ever-growing Trail Directory. Your contributions will help inspire countless other people in their quest to explore the best Kiwi trails around.
Please read the guidelines below. When ready, click the green button below to acknowledge that you have read and understood these. The submission form will then appear on screen - simply fill it out and hit 'Submit' when done.
Note: it can take a while for completed forms to upload so please wait for a confirmation message to appear before closing the window you are working in.
We will review your submission and prepare it for publication. Once it's up on the site you'll be notified by email so you can share your work with the world!
As a VIP member you would receive WT$10 (Wild Things Dollars) redeemable in the shop if your guide is published.
New to submitting a trail? Please read our guidelines for new Trail Directory submissions.
Be in the know before you go! đż
Guidelines for new Trail Directory submissions
Please read the following carefully before submitting a new trail guide.
Route Choice
The first and most important question to ask yourself is âwill other people really want to run this exact route?â. We want routes that excite, not routes that you run out of necessity.
Then ask yourself âis there a purpose to this run?â. Runs that take people somewhere interesting or achieve a goal like a peak or a trig are great. Runs that make a beautiful loop are great. But runs that start or finish at some random point, or which turn around halfway up a hill are not what weâre looking for.
Avoid contrived routes i.e. ones that have lots of out & backs (unless they lead to somewhere interesting/have a purpose to them as in points one and two above).
Routes need to start and finish in a reasonably accessible place. So runs that start e.g. from a hut that is two hours from the trailhead or finish at a hut requiring an overnight stay are not what we are looking for.
Is your run reasonably unique? New routes need to include no more than 50% of trail that is shared with already published Trail Directory runs. If in doubt email us.
This is a Directory for trail runners! So make sure your run does not include more than 50% seal and/or gravel road.
We are generally looking for runs that are at least 5 kms long. This is not a hard & fast rule, but if itâs a shorter run then it needs to be something really interesting. Once again, if youâre in any doubt, email us first.
Please be guided by the points above, not by what you see in the Trail Directory already.Â
Makeup of Run
The types of surface should be reasonably self-explanatory, but to distinguish between the different types of single track please use the following guidelines:
Technical Single Track = very rooty or rocky, possibly very steep too. Itâs the kind of terrain where even the most competent, skilful runners will be forced to slow their pace considerably.
Moderate Single Track = quite rooty or rocky, possibly quite steep too. Itâs the kind of terrain that will disrupt the rhythm of all but the best runners enough to slow them down a bit.
Easy Single Track = well-made trail with few or no obstacles, on which even the least confident runners can move at full pace. This would include steeper sections if they include well-made steps that take out the technical challenge.
GPX Files
We need clean GPX routes, so if you know yours includes some wee detours from where you got lost en route please email us separately to alert us to this. If your GPX file is too messy or too convoluted we may not be able to use it and your submission will be rejected
Style
Please write your guides in the third person, not the first or second person. Guides should not read as a âpersonal reviewâ but as a set of instructions for others following in your footsteps. For example, avoid phrases such as âwhen we did itâŚ.â Or âI usually findâŚâ etc etc.
