Tongariro Crossing

Today I did "NZ's best one day hike", entitled the Tongoriro Crossing. It is 18.5 km one way and is described as "challenging", taking 7-8 hours to complete, passing through some of the most scenic and active volcanic areas of Tongoriro National Park. It was challenging, although thankfully only for about the first three hours. Unfortunately the mist and wind precluded great views from the summit, but as a slow walker, even I was able to complete the track in about 6.5 hours.

The track begins by winding up the Mangatepopo Valley from the carpark to an area called Soda Springs. When the mist clears, we could get brief but tantalizing views of Mt. Ngauruhoe (that's "Mt. Doom" for any LOTR fans out there). Then came the start of the Devil's Staircase, a very steep rocky path through the saddle between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngaururhoe. It's funny, when I was climbing this and kept getting passed by the hikers behind me, a passage from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance came to mind. It goes something like "Mountains should be climbed slowly and without desire." I found that the more I wanted to hike fast and get this part over with, the more frustrated I would become. But when I acknowledged that I was a slow walker, especially with asthma, and just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, the ascent became more manageable.

Once over the Devil's staircase, we entered the south Crater, which reminded me of what the surface of the moon might look like. It was completely flat and huge, the remnant of a long-ago volcano. Then came the red crater ridge, which was not too difficult until we reached the top of the Red Crater and were met with howling winds. The swirling mists and fog made it impossible to see anything, and the wind almost forced you to keep walking up the track, lest you be blown off into the crater. Apparently the top of the red crater can be a great place to have lunch in nice weather since there are hotspots, but my goal was just to get down as fast as possible.

You are rewarded, coming off the crater, with views of three magnificent emerald lakes (smelling of sulfur, of course). The walk through the central crater is lovely and would bring you views of the blue lake, if we could see anything :)

The remainder of the walk was frankly anticlimactic after the climb and the winds at the beginning. The track descends around the northern slope of Mt. Tongoriro and descends in a zig-zag to the Ketetahi hut, where I had the remainder of my lunch (cold pizza, yum!!). From Ketetahi hut, it's 1.5-2 hours to the end of the track, and the end is a bit of a green tunnel through the forest. Most interesting about this part was the evidence of recent trail reconstruction. There were several workers on the track, and huge bags of gravel and rock that had probably been dropped in by helicopter.

Not perfect weather, but a great walk nonetheless.