American hiker Donna Barkley was weeks into walking New Zealand’s longest hiking trail when her strength started to falter. Starting at the northern tip of the country in mid-October, she had trudged south along vast empty coastlines, over farmland and through dense forests thick with mud.
“I have a new definition of muddy – at home we have boot scrapers but after these trails, you need a fire hose,” Barkley tells the Guardian, while taking a rest day in the central North Island.
By the time she reached Bombay, just south of Auckland city, the 64-year-old solo hiker was worn out and questioning her ability to go on.
“I was feeling a little down because that’s when I realised that some parts of the trail might be too tough for me,” Barkley says.
But then, a so-called “trail angel” came to the rescue.
“[She] welcomed me into her house, and asked me how I was doing. I started crying and telling her about my challenges.”
Barkley’s host asked her to jot down the things she was scared of and what she wanted to get out of hiking the Te Araroa trail – a 3,000km route winding down the spine of New Zealand. After sitting down to a home-cooked meal, Barkley’s host reviewed the list and offered tips over which sections to avoid and which to attempt.
The emotional support “was so amazing,” Barkley said, that not only had it been a motivational pick-me up, it had given her permission to avoid the more gruelling parts of the trail.
Te Araroa is considered one of the world’s most diverse trails, with walkers navigating mountain terrains, coastlines, farmland and cities. Each year, roughly 2,000 walkers travel the route: some in a continuous journey over months, others dipping in and out to hike sections.
Along the way, live a vast network of trail angels – locals ready to offer a bed, a lift, or a shower to weary walkers for free, or a small fee. Trail angels are not a formal part of the Te Araroa trail, but for many walkers, they have become a lifeline.
“So many of us talk about being kind to each other and reaching out to people in need – trail angels don’t just talk about these things, they put their words and good thoughts into action,” Barkley says.
Trail angels have been known to helicopter supplies into remote areas, leave boxes of drinks and chocolate in the middle of paddocks, ferry trampers across bulging rivers, and offer local knowledge.
Hikers and trail angels connect through a website and Facebook group, which was set up by Tozan Delman – a self-described tech nerd who felt inspired to connect walkers with locals when his wife embarked on the hike in 2018.
“Over the years it has been growing and now we have nearly 18,000 members – it has got its own legs now,” Delman says.
Requests pop up hourly on the Facebook page, with wide-ranging pleas: some request a place to stay, others ask if anyone will accept a mail delivery of new shoes because theirs have worn through, some hope to spend Christmas with a family. It doesn’t take long for a trail angel to offer help.
Like most online groups, politics can play out. In the case of trail angels, debates usually centre around what is a reasonable fee, or whether you can enforce a ‘koha’, which in Māori custom is a gift or donation, but which some trail angels demand as money.
“While the group does get tangled up quite often in large debates … I tend to discourage those sorts of things,” Delman says. “My ethos, effectively is: this is about generosity of kindness by individuals who want to help.”
Delman, who has hosted trampers in the past, received trail angel hospitality when he joined his wife on the last leg of her tramp in Southland. When his group arrived at the historic Martin’s Hut, a trail angel had hiked in a special delivery.
“He had filled a chilly-bin [ice-box] with cold drinks and chocolates … and left it outside the hut with a note saying, ‘help yourselves’,” Delman says. “That was a bit of a moment on the trail for us, because we had a hard day, we were nearing the end, and we were super happy to see that chilly-bin.”
For some trail angels, like Colin and Dawn Newall of Waikato, offering help is as much about kindness as being ambassadors for New Zealand.
The couple became hosts three years ago after picking up a pair of backpackers ambling along a highway late at night. They now offer rides, a bed or a home-cooked meal and have hosted roughly 30 trampers.
“Most people get into it to give people the Kiwi experience … and when you talk people on the trail, they can’t get over the hospitality,” Colin says.
For the well-travelled pair, hosting is an opportunity to give back to the international community, and a way to stay connected to the world. They now have invites to visit trampers across the globe.
“It’s almost like extending your family out, across the waves,” Dawn says.
For trampers like Barkley, hosts such as the Newalls are “the bones of the trail”.
“They sweep in and help and spread magic – they offer food, warmth. I think they are doing God’s work and that’s why they’re called trail angels.”
