Wilderness Magazine is gearing up to relaunch Walk1200km for 2027, its challenge that invites walkers to cover 1200 kilometres on foot over the course of a year. Before the new edition kicks off, the team is running a survey asking past and current participants to share how the challenge went for them — what worked, what didn't, and what kept them going.
The idea is simple but clever: your answers might inspire someone else to lace up their boots and take part. With permission, selected responses will be featured in the launch issue of Walk1200km 2027, which lands in Wilderness Magazine's January/February 2027 edition. So if you've ever trudged through mud, clocked up beach kilometres, or squeezed a lunchtime loop around a training plan, this is your chance to see your experience in print.
The magazine stresses there are no right or wrong answers, and you don't need to respond to every question — it's about stories, not scores. For anyone who took on the challenge and never quite knew how to sum it up, the survey offers a structured way to reflect on it, whether you smashed the 1200km target or bailed out in April.
For travellers, the appeal is bigger than one magazine initiative. A year-long walking goal like this pushes you to explore your own patch at ground level — and in New Zealand's case, that means an extraordinary variety of terrain within reach: coastal tracks, native bush, farmland, river paths and city walkways all count towards the tally. It's a low-cost way to build adventure into ordinary weeks, and the sort of challenge that tends to convert casual strollers into serious trampers. Even if you're not in Aotearoa, the format travels well — pick a distance, log your kilometres, and watch your local map fill up with paths you'd never otherwise have walked.
If you've done Walk1200km before, the survey is open now and worth twenty minutes of your time. If you haven't, keep an eye out for the January/February 2027 issue to see how previous walkers fared — and consider making 2027 your year on the trail.
