One Serious Hike

So today (Monday Jan 26) we did the 'Tongariro Crossing Alpine Hike'... a 19 kilometre / 7-8 hour jaunt that all the guide books say is a must-do.  I have to admit, it was pretty awesome.  Prior to this escapade, Astrid & I didn't really do a lot of hikes to qualify as 'hikers', though we certainly did our fare share of sub-3 kilometre portages... which meant a heavier pack, and a canoe on your shoulders... generally limited your views a little... which largely consisted of forest anyway.

Anyhow, it was truly amazing.  The hike has several distinct 'parts', making it quite enjoyable (except for the one section near the end which I will get to in a sec).

You start with a fairly gentle climb following a river up the side of a mountain.  Its mostly barren landscape and very dry, except for a quick stop at a cool waterfall called Soda Springs.

From there it gets quite steep as you ascend what is essentially a volcano.  Very cool views on the way up.. the final ascent to the top is especially gruelling.  Once at the top (which is kinda like the midway point, with 9km in (the harder bit) and 11.5km to go) you had a few choices -- you could head straight on (which is what most people do), you could climb up the 600 meter, 35 degree slope of Mt. Doom (aka Mt. Nagauranu), or you could take the gentler ascent up to the Mt. Tongariro Summit... I opted for the later. 

An intense uphill climb after the Mt Doom Summit option had us almost at the halfway point, which is where the option for the Tongariro Summit side-trip was at.  7km's into the walk, with another 11km's to go, what's another 3km side venture? :)

The views from the very top were very cool:

The next bit consisted of a cool crater that was super red (ironically called the Red Crater):

The descent down the red crater was very cool -- it was a steep slope with loose volcanic sand and gravel that made things fairly difficult.  I opted to gently jog down the slope in a criss-cross fashion that was similar to skiing... wow this made it way easier.  I passed several groups on the way down using this technique (it felt kinda similar to the Nordic ski style whose name escapes me), though it meant filling my socks and shoes with heaps of pebbles and sand.

After that we passed a couple of mountain lakes -- named Emerald lake and the bigger Blue lake.  From there the excitement waned a bit as we proceed through several kilometres of boring traversing down the far side slope.  But then it got excellent again as we entered lush forests following a stream which made for a great cool-down on my hot head.

When we finally reached the bottom, a quick phone call is all it took to have our holiday park place come along within 10 minutes with our van to pick us up (sure beat waiting for the shuttle bus like loads of others waiting at the bottom).  We were fairly exhausted, with some sore legs, but were filled with a huge sense of accomplishment after completing one of New Zealand's 'Great Walks'.

Now its off to the hot tub to wind down....

Syd.

Astrid's impression of this same walk.  I was not as excited as Syd to embark on this 8 hour hike - it frankly sounded quite daunting (while beautiful), and  I don't like things that are too hard.  The beginning started out easy enough with the hike across the plains and the chance to not only dip under a waterfall at soda springs and see a rainbow there, but all the while looking  up a my most favourite movie icon -Mount Doom! 

Then we did our first ascent and I must admit, it was quite hard and I took many breaks, but there were makeshift stairs so it was manageable.  At the top we went across some barren land that was used in some parts of the LOTR shooting of the Plains of Gorogoroth.  I did my own movie scene as Samwise with my bag as a makeshift Frodo - to commemorate the feeling (inquire later if you wish to view). I know, I'm such a nerd. 

By the second (or third?) ascent up to the red crater, where there were no steps, all crazy rocks and harsh unforgiving land around me, I did start to wonder what the hell I was doing there. Course, I never said this to Syd who was grinning from ear to ear despite the effort.  Then, at the top I was so winded that I just told Syd to do the summit himself so I could relax and enjoy the views. I then made another ascent to see what was on the other side (which I hoped was the emerald lakes) and to my great pleasure they were - but not after a crazy descent amongst many other trekkers so I couldn't do Syd's alpine move (that he did later with less people) and so had to make way slower downhill, basically in a sideways position.

At Emerald lake I waited for about an hour for Syd, but thought as I looked around - I am sitting next to an amazing jade-coloured sulphurous lake, a volcano and red crater to my right, steaming fumaroles casting sulphurous odours my way, and all the food and water with me - what else could I possibly want?  It was great!  It was also fun to see Syd come barreling down the hill and I caught some of it on video.

So overall, as hard as it was, I never would have seen such diverse scenery in one 8 hour walk (from plains, to waterfalls, to volcanoes, to geothermal areas, to beautiful lakes, to views from 2500 ft up - yes we climbed that high, to end with a cool bushwalk through a rainforest).  I too shared the accomplishment, and was doubly happy for a hot shower and hot tub experience that evening to soothe the aching muscles. ;o)

Astrid