Plan My Walk - the ultimate tramping app | Part 1

Plan for success in the Taupo region's outdoors: Part 1

With hundreds of kilometers of untouched ancient forests, Jurassic geothermal wonderlands, and breathtaking volcanic landscapes, the Taupo region is a premier destination for hiking and walking. Whether you are out for an easy lakeside stroll or a demanding multi-day backcountry hike, the Taupo region has some of the best walking tracks in New Zealand.

The Great Lake Pathway or the Huka Trails allow you to soak in stunning views of Lake Taupo and the Waikato River at your own leisurely pace. For the more adventurous, an epic half-day or full-day hike within the Tongariro National Park crosses cratered moonscapes and takes in volcanic lakes and waterfalls to provide once-in-a-lifetime views of a spectacular alpine landscape.

But before you venture out on one of Taupo's incredible trails, don't forget to plan your walk...

In this two-part series, Love Taupo and the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (MSC) are partnering together to help you:

• Use the new features and community of the Plan My Walk app
• Select a walk in the Taupo region best suited for your fitness level, equipment, and safety

Plan My Walk was born from the NZ Mountain Safety Council's (MSC) motivation to support quality planning and preparation before heading out to explore New Zealand’s tracks. The journey to develop the app and get it to this point has evolved over several years. Reviewing incident analysis from the last five years, MSC Operations Manager Nathan Watson said the data clearly indicated that the injuries or search and rescue assistance required by trampers were mostly avoidable.

The research has found that many incidents could have been prevented, or their seriousness reduced, through thorough trip planning and preparation, and sound decision-making while out in the hills. It also showed that there were 5 main factors for search and rescue:

1. Being unprepared for the weather conditions
2. Lack of warm layered clothing and/or a waterproof jacket
3. An overambitious choice of route
4. A lack of sufficient fitness
5. Taking longer than expected to reach the destination

Plan My Walk is safe and convenient and supports the planning phase to minimize these factors to ensure your next trip to the Taupo region is a memorable and safe one.

The app also helps with track inspiration, before guiding the user through the weather forecast, track information, a gear list, and any relevant alerts. Each of the new features was shaped by community feedback from users like you and will continually guide the app's future development.

One of the key new features allows easier management of your profile and makes your account even more customizable for your upcoming hiking trips to the Taupo region.

• My Wishlist - You can save tracks you want to make a plan for later
• Profile Settings - You can customise your notifications and manage your account
• My Walks - Easily access your past, upcoming, or draft trip plans
• Offline Plan - You can download your trip plan as a PDF for access offline 
• My Contacts - Easily manage your trip contacts so they're quick and simple to apply to a trip plan

"It’s really easy to underestimate the importance of quality planning and preparation, there are lots of little things that can be easily overlooked, or if you’re new to tramping how do you know where to start and how do you effectively make a trip plan," Nathan said. "When combined these small gaps in planning can have a big impact on your safety. Conversely, it’s often the little details that go a long way to improving your safety."

The app's latest version, released this month, has an awesome new plan page that offers the ability to break down the trip by group members, a daily schedule, and any important trip notes and documents.

• Custom Trip Name - You can create a name for each trip plan
• Daily Plan - For multi-day trips, you can add a start and end location, and daily notes for each day
• Shared Trip Plans - You can now access a trip plan that someone else has created and added you to. You'll receive an email notifying you, and you can also find those trip plans under 'My Walks', be sure to accept the invitation

Plan My Walk is a world-first product that MSC and Love Taupo believe has very real potential to improve the safety of thousands of people that venture into the Taupo region and the rest of New Zealand.

For your next walk in the Taupo region, select a track, enter your trip dates and find alerts, an interactive gear list, weather forecast, and much more. Create a trip plan, assign an emergency contact, share it and you’re ready to go!

Download the app, Plan My Walk, from your preferred app store, or check it out online. 

Don't miss Part 2 on how to choose the right Taupo track for you!