Tongariro Alpine Crossing

This was the first time I have been on a hike like this, though George has also climbed to the St. Helens Crater and took a really challenging hike with some friends and Bassam around Mt. Hood. The parts I found to be very challenging (and terrifying) were comparable to situations he was in on both of those hikes and so he was much more assured and not scared at all.

This hike takes you through some challenging volcanic landscape for 12 challenging miles (19.4 km)with an elevation gain of 2,510 feet - all within the first 6 miles. We completed it in 7 hours and I was wiped out when we were done. Like, seriously wiped out as I hadn’t eaten enough at the summit when we stopped for lunch. Even George was tired at the end and we all know that he has endless energy!

One of the highlights of this day hike is going past Mount Ngauruhoe which is the volcanic cone that Mt. Doom was based on. As a giant fan of the Lord of the Rings, it was especially thrilling to be hiking past this stunning site. Mount Ngauruhoe and the surrounding area has strong cultural significance to the Māori people and you are not allowed to go off trail which includes going down to the lakes that I will share pictures of.

We did a lot of planning and training specifically for this hike and brought gear that I am hoping we can mail home as we won’t be needing it on the rest of our trip…we will see. It is recommended that you plan for 4 seasons of weather in one day, though we ended up having really beautiful weather. This hike was amazing and I feel quite a sense of accomplishment. I highly recommend it, though won’t likely do it again…once is sufficient! I fell only three times - two times I lost my footing on my way down the scree and the last was a spectacularly embarrassing fall in front of a bunch of people at a rest stop in the way down LOL. I’m a little banged up, but ok :-). George hiked with grace and style - zero falls for him :-)

This was definitely a highlight of our trip so far and I a still recovering!

It was a cold start in the early morning!

An easy start to the hike with Mt. Doom in the background

The beginning of the Devil’s Staircase

Just yikes

More of the staircase with Mt. Doom in the background

No more steps, just a rocky climb. Can you find George?

Traci trying to catch up

We kept getting to the “top” only to find out it wasn’t the actual top. This long flat walk was a bit of a reprieve before we got to the really challenging climb.

Another cool view of Mt. Doom!

It’s time to stop and reapply some sun screen. Still not at the top.

Can you see the tiny people who are still NOT at the top?

We are almost to the top and it is a bit scary for me at this point as the path is narrow and full of scree. This was such a stunning feature though - must have been a vent for the lava or pyroclastic flow?

Yay, we are at the top with Mt. Doom in the background! We stopped here for a lunch of PB&J sandwiches on homemade bread!

This is looking the other direction with some of the lakes in the background. Now we have to go down a hill of loose scree - fun for George and terrifying for Traci. I was slow and pretty sure I might slide off the edge if I went any faster.

Part way down the slope at a wide part of the path. These are geothermal lakes and they are really magical looking. The smell of sulfur is really strong here.

Just taking my time and being a little sassy

Reunited after the scary downhill part

A look back at the volcano. The arrow shows the actual top and some small dots that are hikers behind us. We went down that long narrow slope from there.

We have gone up the next rise and we can see our path down with Mt. Doom in the background.

This is a picture of some of the bathrooms that you find every hour or so. You have to bring your own TP.

We are now on our long track down to the other side where we will be picked up. We heard a helicopter and thought that someone was injured, but thankfully they were doing trail maintenance. They were bring loads of some type of soil up and then workers were tamping it into place.

More geothermal activity on the descent. It is also interesting to continue to find more and more vegetation on this side.

A beautiful view on the way down.

The vegetation is taller, so we must be close to the end…

Nope, still a ways to go.

This was a beautiful part of the hike that reminded us of the PNW. It was hard to enjoy because we were so exhausted at this point.

This is what Brendon, our shuttle driver handed us as we got on the shuttle :-) He also asked if he could say a prayer of thanks for our safe return in Māori as he had said one at the beginning of our hike. It was lovely.

Here we are with Brendon at Lake Taupo. He pulled over here so we could see the lake and take some pictures. This is a HUGE lake - Brendon shared it was the same size as Singapore!