Matt Tomkins, A big day in the Tararuas (PEOPLE WILDERNESS 2024)

A photo of my hiking buddies on the Te Araroa Trail. We were nearing the end of one of our biggest days on trail, tackling the notoriously rugged but spectacularly beautiful Tararua Range in the North Island of New Zealand. Te Araroa is an ultra-long distance hiking trail that runs 3,000km along the length of New Zealand.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.