The Tongariro Crossing

With one week to drive from Wellington to Auckland (only a 12 hr trip in total), we chose to make a long stop-over in Tongariro National Park, one of our favorite places in all of New Zealand. We have been there twice before, once with Cait and once on our way south in October, both times in seriously cold weather: deep snow on the mountains, freezing conditions at night, and days chilly enough to require multiple sweaters, gloves, and hats. Given those experiences, we were thrilled to find comfortably warm weather and mostly sunny skies awaiting us as we entered the park.

Blue skies at Taranaki Falls

Our first order of business was booking the shuttle for the Tongariro Crossing, the "most famous one day trek" in the country, which we decided to do the following day since the weather looked so promising. The trek is 19.4 kilometers and takes hikers from the Mangatepopo Valley, climbing up through the volcanic craters between Mt. Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, then descending the far side through tussock land and forest with awesome views of Lake Taupo. It was quite a physically demanding hike, but the sights easily made up for the aches.

We took one of the earliest shuttles, getting picked up at 7am to start on the trail a little before 8:00 and finishing around 2:30 to catch the 3pm shuttle back to Whakapapa Village.

First shot of the day: the clouds were low and the sun was just beginning to break through over the mountains. Thankfully, the first couple of kilometers were pretty flat so we had a good warm up before hitting the hard stuff.

The lava fields on the western side of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mordor if you'll recall)


Lou at Soda Springs, just before the first big climb to the top of the ridge in the background.


Looking back from the ridge-top at the valley


At the top we decided to forgo the optional side trip to the top of the volcano and head straight across the crater floor to our next ascent. The bowl of the crater looked just like you might imagine the moon: perfectly flat with a smattering of volcanic rocks. The ground was firm but springy and clay-like.


When we had climbed out of it we looked back and saw this.



We just climbed out of the valley at the right and are halfway up the spine of this ridge leading to the highest point at the top of Red Crater.


Red Crater


The sharpness of the colors was amazing and we could see occasional puffs of steam rising from vents along the mountainside.


Lou at the highest point of our hike


The steep, gravelly descent afforded stunning views of the emerald lakes. The smell of sulfur was pervasive and grew stronger as we made our way down.


The midpoint on the trek and a wonderful place to take a short rest


Our lunch spot, sheltered from the wind, but sunny enough to keep warm


Sean with one of the emerald lakes and the trail heading off into the distance behind him


Lou on the trail with the three towering landmarks: Red Crater, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu


The lava field blew us away. You could almost see it creeping across the valley with a faint ring of green just at the edge like grasses about to be engulfed by the black mass.


Coming over the ridges on the far side and starting our final 6km descent, we were treated to gorgeous views of Lake Rotoaira (near) and Lake Taupo in the distance


Beautiful sub-alpine flowers growing in the tussock


The Ketetahi Hot Springs: the path skirts this sacred spot and crosses the stream that flows from it. From here, we continued hiking down and for the last hour and a half we were in dense bush, following the path of another creek. By the time we made it to the carpark at the end, we were tired but exhilarated by what we had just seen and done. Naturally, we treated ourselves to ice cream bars once we got back to the campground and wonderful hot showers before an early dinner and bedtime.