Tongoriro Crossing

So after surviving the storm in Taupo where we watched the Ironman New Zealand (delayed by a day and shortened to a 70.3 due to said storm) we took our chances in our semi-reliable Snow White and headed down to Tongoriro to do one of the New Zealand Great Walks, “Tongoriro Crossing”.  Speaking of our beloved Snow White, she appears to be a bit groggy after being woken from her lengthy slumber and seems to be suffering from narcolepsy (anyone remember the narcoleptic wiener dog?  Awesome.)  Unfortunately it’s not so awesome when it’s your car.  That being said, once you get her over 60km/hr she seems to be ok as long as you keep on the pedal – any sign of stalling and you just floor it.  After the 1.5 hour drive up to the Tongoriro area, we were making our final turn up to the hotel area and pulled over to pick up a couple of hitchhikers who were trying to catch a lift the last 6km to the hotel.   We pulled over, moved a bunch of our gear from the back seat to the back of the wagon and packed them in like a couple of sardines (no worries Ty/Nat – you’ll fit just fine!).  After getting the door closed I hopped into the drivers seat, put her into drive and bam – zzzzzzzzzzzz….  It took about 5-10 minutes but we got her back going and chugged along to the hotel… I had to take the corners pretty fast for fear that we’d go too slow and she’d konk out again – as we came to the last little uphill into the hotel parking area she’d had it and took another snooze.  We decided that we’d just leave the car at the bottom of the hill.  Fortunately our friendly German hitchhikers hopped out of Snow White and pushed her to her resting point for the next couple hours while she caught up on some much needed sleep.

We stayed at a place called Skotel (the highest hotel in NZ).  The options up there were pretty limited – a fancy Chateau (think mini Chateau Lake Louise), a camping area and the Skotel.  Skotel was a hotel/hostel so we got a room in the hostel side which very reasonable.  We had a room to ourselves with 3 single beds.

After giving Snow White some time to get her beauty sleep we moved her up to the actual parking area and got unloaded.  We then proceeded to charge as many electronic gadgets as we could (this is a problem as you move around and camp – not a lot of places to charge your phones/cameras/laptops…)  After a quick meal consisting of quinoa, corn on the cob and avocado’s, we booked our bus for the Tongoriro Crossing for 7AM the next morning and headed to bed.

We woke up to clear skies – something people were saying had not happened for the past 10 days – score for us.  Snowy remnants of the storm we had while at IMNZ were visible atop all the surrounding mountains (volcanoes).  It was pretty chilly in the morning but it warmed up nicely as the day went on.  The scenery as we wound our way up from the trailhead to the base of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) was super interesting… volcanic (metamorphic I think?? Ry/Jess/Nate??) rock was everywhere and very little vegetation.  I think the trailhead was ~1200m above sea level and the top of Mt. Ngauruhoe was 2200+m.  The total trail from start to finish is 19.4km and is no walk in the park.  The trip to the summit of Mt. Ngauruhoe is actually a side trip from the main walk.  We decided to do the side trip up Mt. Ngauruhoe – this turned out to be ridiculously hard.  One step forward, ¾ step back.  The side of the volcano is super loose rock and sand.  For some reason we got going up a section that was really soft and unstable (super awesome for hiking!).  There is a ridge on one side that is reasonably hard and stable but alas, we (likely “I”) figured we were fine and didn’t go over there.  We were the only ones plowing up the middle in the loose rock and sand… it was a good thing we had poles to “pole” ourselves up the mountain with.  Honestly we wouldn’t have made it without those (well I suppose we would’ve gone over to the ridge on the other side but…).  Eventually we made it and it was very worth it.  At the top there is a huge hole or crater from where the volcano would’ve blown open.  Incredible rock colors – bright red, dark grey, black, white… amazing.  You could see all these layers down the side of the crater – very cool.  There was also this neat layer of ice along most of the rock lining the top of the crater.  There was clearly moisture seeping out of the volcano somewhere.  Actually, one area had a visible steam geyser blowing out of it which was pretty neat.

It probably took us about 2 hours to get to the top but on the way down we boot skied in the soft sand/loose rocks and it took maybe 20-30 minutes.  It was pretty fun and made the climb up even more rewarding.

Anyways – the rest of the hike was awesome.  More red rock, more steam (that stinks like sulfur), colorful lakes and at the end of the hike near the trail end, even a jungle.  Quite the diverse hike!

Here are some photos to give you an idea!!