ROUTES, GLUTES, AND TWO PAIRS OF BOOTS: BOOK REVIEW

Routes, Glutes, and Two Pairs Of Boots by Holly Kipling is a memoir of her time hiking the Te Araroa Trail (SOBO) in 2019 as a 19 year old.

You get a day by day description of her journey, detailing the highs, lows, sights, scenes, friends (foes?), and plenty of food based stories.

Holly has an easy conversational writing style. It’s a longer than usual book, but it’s easy to pick up, read a little bit and put down again. It;s a book full of tiny chapters.

Having hiked various parts of the Te Araroa Trail, I found the descriptions of the trails accurate. An impressive feat. After hiking 3000km the days can blur!

Why buy the book?
Routes, Glutes, and Two Pairs of Boots great book to purchase if you’re interested in the Te Araroa (I’ve listed lots of Te Araroa books here), or planning to go hiking in NZ a lot. You’ll pick up a bunch of tips and tricks throughout the stories. But as we all know, you’ll still make many of the same mistakes ;p

Looking for something else? Check out these New Zealand related hiking books.

Here are 10 things I took away from the book via Holly.

10 LESSONS FROM ROUTES, GLUTES, AND TWO PAIRS OF BOOTS

1. AUDIOBOOKS ARE A GAMECHANGER

The two most common questions Holly got on the trail from non-TA walkers were:

• Does she ever got lonely?
• How does she keep herself from getting bored with so much time alone?

Regarding the second, Holly never got too bored on the interesting trails with changing landscapes, elevation changes, and technical sections keeping the mind busy.

It was the long flat gravel sections where the monotony of the trail kicked in that got her. But plugging in an audio book saw the miles tick by.

Whether it’s audio books and/or podcasts, load up a bunch before you set off on your journey. Make sure to include a variety of topics/genres. Different moods will see you feel like listening to different things.

If you haven’t used Audible before, take advantage of the free trial.

2. KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU’RE SPENDING

Holly ran out of money on the trail (kind of), but even towards the end I saw there was conflict in how she treated money.

She’d skimp on somethings, then on the next day mention she’s gone out for vegan pizzas and beer. In NZ, a vegan pizza and a beer is a small fortune! When you’re tired, it’s easy to not think things through properly.

I’d suggest you download a budget tracking app (there are lots of free ones), and note your expenses each day. This automatically makes you more conscious of each purchase you make as you need to make a note of it later.

In a perfect world, money wouldn’t be an issue!

3. WHEN YOU HIKE ALL DAY, YOU’LL BE TIRED

It seemed as though there were lots of days where Holly fell asleep before her head hit the pillow. Make sure to monitor your energy levels throughout your hike. The nature of thru-hiking means most people will get at least 8 hours of sleep no worries.

But, there’s no point in pushing things too far…that may lead to more rest days than planned!

4. EVERYONE DOES THE TRAIL THERE OWN WAY, RESPECT EACH JOURNEY

Unless you’re looking to set a Te Araroa Fastest Known Time (FKT), there’s endless ways to hike the trail. Remember, everyone’s journey is for themselves.

For Holly she didn’t mind hitching road sections. Others would do many 50km+ days, others would pick and choose the best sections. There’s no right or wrong. You do you, boo.

5. LEARN OFF OTHERS, ESPECIALLY EARLY ON

It doesn’t matter how much research you do/don’t do in advance, you’ll not have the perfect system early on. Listen and observe others, and ask questions.

Some of the things Holly found useful from others were:

• unloading non-essential items
• checking tide times
• having her pack fitted properly
• food ideas

6. DO THINGS ALONG THE WAY THAT SPARK JOY

Hiking the Te Araroa Trail can be tough, especially if the weather isn’t so great, there’s a boring section, you’re homesick, or whatever it is that gets you down.

So make sure to appreciate the things that make you happy, spark joy as it were.

• Share victories with others
• Have a few goto snacks you love that you have sporadically
• Swim nude
• Do yoga
• Sing out loud

Whatever it takes.

7. SETTING EXPECTATIONS CAN BE THE DEVIL

Expectations (like shops being shut) are still the devil on the trail. Keep them in check. This is applicable to life of course.

8. FRIENDSHIPS ARE VITAL ALONG THE ROUTE

As much as everyone is on their own journey, you’ll inevitably be hiking at the same place as other people. Perhaps for a couple of days, or even weeks.

While it might be tempting to go into your shell, it’s highly recommended to talk with others regardless of their background. You all have a shared goal, and there’s endless things to talk about it’d seem based on Holly’s experiences.

And she ended up hiking with a solid group for a few weeks. They didn’t necessarily hike together all day every day, but would see each other at the end of the day to spend time together etc.

Having a regular group of people also means you can escape small talk that happens so often while hiking.

9. THE TRAIL STINK IS REAL

There’s no way to avoid it, and ultimately no one really cares it would seem. Obviously do what you can to minimise your stench, but understand it’s real.

Personally, I lack a sense of smell (always have) so don’t get to experience this myself!

10. YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE WEATHER BUT YOU CAN YOUR PLANS

It doesn’t matter how committed you are to a plan, the weather will influence your plans. Two noticeable moments for Holly were entering the Tararua Ranges. There was a storm incoming meaning she had to make sure she was out of the ranges quicker than she initially planned.

And the second was when arriving in Queenstown, a massive cyclone meant she needed to reroute as the Routeburn was closed.

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And there we go.

If you enjoy reading stories about thru-hikes, you’ll enjoy reading Holly’s book. Especially as it’s from someone who hiked the trail independently as such a young age.

If you’d like to buy the book, you can get it on Kindle or Paperback via Amazon.