Respect for the Hobbits

For Easter weekend, Uni closed from Friday until Tuesday, so Jonne, Chad, and I took the chance to venture towards the center of the North Island and do one of the 9 Great Walks of New Zealand - http://greatwalks.co.nz/.  Each one is different and more beautiful than the last, but we chose to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which is the day hike of the 3-4 full Tongariro Northern Circuit. Perhaps the main reason we chose to do the hike is because we wanted to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is more commonly recognized as Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings. Anyways, I'll get to the hike shortly.

Enjoying the patio at the backpackers.

Friday morning we met by the waterfront to await our bus to Turangi. The bus ride was pretty typical making stops along the way. Turangi is located about 30 minutes drive south, away from Lake Taupo, which is the massive lake in the center of the north island. The backpackers that we stayed at was located in Turangi and it was definitely the most homely and comfortable hostel I've ever stayed at. While most backpackers have kitchens to use, this one had everything, from French presses to an array of knives and specific utensils, with an herb garden in back. Almost every inch of wall space was occupied in the hallways as well by maps and flyers and things to do around the area, and it really made for a cool feeling and effect. Even better, the manager's dog was hanging around and visiting the patrons as we relaxed and enjoyed the hammocks and patio out back so it was certainly nice to play with a dog again. Following a bit of relaxing and getting everything in order for dinner, we decided to do a local hike along the river which was filled with fly fishermen and people swimming. 

Saturday morning was another wakeup before the sunrise so that we could catch our shuttle at 6:30 to take us to Tongariro National Park, which is listed as National Park on the map above. Upon our arrival to the park we started the hike around 8AM. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is supposed to be a hike from one carpark to another carpark, but because of some recent volcanic activity halfway through the crossing, it has become a there-and-back hike until the volcano subsides. Thus, the start and end point of our tramping adventure was the Mangatepopo Carpark at about 1100m elevation. 

The hike climbs at a relatively constant rate over volcanic terrain and past a little stream before reaching a turn off at 1400m to go to the soda springs. The turn off to soda springs is about 4k into the hike or about 2.5 miles. Following soda springs is the toughest part of the hike, which is called the Devil's Staircase. It's basically about 1k long and gains 250m in that distance of alternating extremely steep stairs and steep hills with loose scree on either side. At the top of the Devil's Staircase is a massive crater, the South Crater, that is situated between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe. The trail cuts directly across the crater in an almost perfectly straight line, while the entire crater has a very unique 

South Crater

The South Crater (notice that the trail cuts across the floor)

and flat valley floor. Following the Devil's Staircase the flatness was a welcome relief. At the end of the South Crater was the steepest part of the hike, that climbs up loose gravel and small rocks to reach the summit of the crossing and looks down on the Red Crater at a bit over 1900m. 

The summit of the crossing is another landscape all it's own, with another relatively flat plane covered by a boulder field. It was here, at the summit that we decided to eat lunch before venturing down the backside of the peak to see the Emerald Lakes. 

We even got lucky enough by midday for the clouds to burn off so that we could see Mt. Ngauruhoe clearly. It was quite interesting to notice the way we went from below, then through, to above the clouds and how they shifted and moved around the different geographic features on the volcanoes. After some site seeing of Mt. Doom, we hiked down to the lakes. On the way we encountered some hot spots on the trail that we used to warm our hands. Well, in actuality when we hiked down, we more slid and skied down the backside of the peak. The gravel and scree were so loose, and the mountainside so steep that each time we took a step we slid anywhere from 6inches to 2feet further down. It made getting to the lakes fun, scary, and exciting! 

The view of all three lakes compared to a view of the lakes up close compete closely for which one is more beautiful. For a landscape that is so arid I'm not quite sure how these lakes stay put, and no, they aren't geothermal and you can't swim in them. I was sad to find out that there was no swimming allowed. 

Lunch break with the crossing summit in the background

 After enjoying the beauty of the lakes we decided it was time to head back up to the summit, up the ski/scree slopes and return to the carpark. The 200m climb from the lakes back to the summit gave the Devil's Staircase a run for the toughest part with the slipperiness and steepness of it. But we made it and enjoyed the rest of the hike being all downhill.

Red Crater

While we originally thought we wanted to hike Mt. Doom, upon climbing on the scree, we decided that hiking to the summit of a scree covered mountain that is 2200m tall would be a bit more than we felt like doing. After all, the hike was over 5 miles long to reach the lakes and we still had to double the distance hike out. So, respect to Froddo for hiking up Mt. Doom, it certainly defeated me without me going near it.

The rest of the hike was pretty easy going and the stairs on the Devil's Staircase made going down a lot more relaxing then going down on scree slopes.

And upon our arrival back to Turangi we found a local take away and got victory burgers to enjoy and reward ourselves for a hike as we looked forward to the soreness that the next day would bring.

Emerald Lake with Crossing Summit in background

Emerald Lakes

Mt. Ngaurahoe