A magazine competition in New Zealand has a refreshingly simple idea for anyone whose walks have started to feel routine: add a small, silly task to the kilometres you're already covering.

Wilderness Magazine runs a regular #microchallenges feature in each issue. Readers set out on their walks and hikes with three lighthearted challenges in hand, then complete them along the way. The point isn't speed or distance — it's to notice your surroundings more closely and add a bit of play to a day outdoors. Readers submit proof of their efforts, with six favourite completers earning a special badge and the best entry in each challenge taking home a prize from the magazine's partners.

The October 2026 round is the latest instalment, and while the specific tasks are for readers of the issue, the format itself is easy to borrow. The idea works because it changes how you pay attention: instead of ticking off kilometres or staring at a phone screen, you're scanning the trail for something odd, counting things, or seeing the landscape differently. It's the kind of game that works just as well on a city park loop as on a backcountry tramp, and it's especially handy for families — kids tend to embrace an arbitrary mission far faster than a stated goal of "getting some exercise".

There's a broader takeaway here for travellers. A destination walk you might otherwise breeze through becomes more memorable when you give it a theme. Set yourself a challenge — photograph three things that don't belong, find the oldest tree on the route, listen for five distinct sounds — and even a familiar neighbourhood track turns into a small expedition. It costs nothing, needs no gear, and it forces you to slow down and actually look at where you are.

If you're walking in New Zealand itself, you're spoilt for company. The country's trail network ranges from short coastal strolls to multi-day Great Walks, and a microchallenge mindset slots neatly into any of them. Whether you enter the magazine's competition or just steal the concept for your own group, the principle is the same: the walk is the excuse, noticing things is the point.

For anyone planning a hiking trip, it's worth packing a few invented challenges alongside the usual kit. They weigh nothing, and they're the difference between "we did the track" and "remember when we had to...".

Story via Wilderness Magazine NZ.