The Whanganui Journey is one of New Zealand's 10 Great Walks. Bookings for the most popular, the Milford Track, were sold out within 15 minutes of its opening on June 15.
DoC was thrilled when New Zealanders got out into the bush in droves last summer, Taylor said.
"We weren't sure what to expect this year with less certainty around border restrictions, so it's been extremely pleasing to see this level of interest in the Great Walks so far."
DoC worked hard to ensure New Zealanders could access their great outdoors and all the health and wellbeing benefits time in nature provided, he said.
"We are so lucky to have such a wealth of wilderness and nature to enjoy and such an extensive recreation network of tracks, huts and campsites," Taylor said.
Whanganui River tourist operators say last summer was awesome. It was the best ever, according to Bridge to Nowhere Lodge owner Joe Adam.
Numbers of canoeists and Mountains to Sea cyclists were up and there was only one serious accident. That was on November 18, when DoC staff in a jetboat hit a solo canoeist on a wide, straight stretch of river near Pipiriki during heavy rain.
The injured canoeist, a 56-year-old man from Auckland, was taken to Whanganui Hospital from the Pipiriki Wharf.
He had been on the 3000km Te Araroa trail and had hired a canoe from Owhango Adventures owner Grant Lethborg. The man was in hospital for three or four weeks, Lethborg said, but recovered.
The accident was investigated by DoC and Maritime New Zealand. It was still under investigation, a Maritime New Zealand spokesman said.
That aside, for Lethborg and Adam last summer was a dream tourist season.
"The DoC sites were pretty booked up and I think every operator will be pretty happy," Lethborg said.
Huts and campsites appeared to be full during the peak summer months, he said; however, DoC recorded 79 per cent occupancy across the full season.
Owhango Adventures provides guided cultural tours and also hires out canoes. Its bookings for the coming summer are above average already.
Lethborg was concerned the river would get overcrowded, and he said DoC shared that concern.
"It's definitely crowded. The campsites were probably at max for a lot of the time."
The river got lower after Christmas, as it usually does, and Lethborg said it was too low this year.
"It was the lowest it's been in all the years that we've been doing it. They're diverting too much out."
Richard Steele, who lives at Whakahoro where most canoeists get onto the river, agreed the river was low last summer.
There was enough rain right through the season for farming, but it was less than usual and the river was lower and cleaner as a result.
In the previous year, he made 20 river rescues with his jetboat. This year there were only 12, and none of them were life-threatening.
The New Zealanders he helped on the river were always more pragmatic than people from overseas, he said.
"Some people just get in the wilderness and are overwhelmed by the wilderness."
