Traveling HobNobs: Tongariro Alpine Crossing (Let's see how unfit we are)

One day, eight hours, 12 miles (19.4 km), a climb of almost half a mile (765 m), a descent of seven tenths of a mile (1,126 m). Numbers were just numbers until our lungs realized what they meant during the ascent and our knees felt them the day after. Yet, the numbers were often pushed to the backs of our minds as we walked alongside massive volcanoes, red craters, and emerald green lakes. Tongariro Alpine Crossing was a beautiful hike that convinced us of two things: 1) we were not in good shape--thanks, grad school, and 2) we would like to do more hiking in the future.

We caught a shuttle at 7:00 am to the beginning of the Crossing; and by "caught a shuttle," I mean that the owner of the hotel drove us in our Nissan Sunny to the starting point because the shuttle bus had dropped off a bunch of people at 6:30 am. Interestingly, our driver used to run races near Notre Dame and had run the entire route we were about to hike in less than an hour and a half. The night before, we had been advised to wear multiple layers and waterproof outerwear. The beginning of the hike was chilly, but we soon warmed up. For about an hour and a half, we hiked a gradual incline through fields of tiny white flowers, brush, and jagged lava formations. Then we came to the warning sign, letting us know that things would be very tough from that point on.

Lava rock formations looked like large chunks of chocolate on the field.

White flowers looked like layers of marshmallow. We just needed something that looked like a giant graham cracker to have a S'more-y landscape.

Before the first ascent, we were warned that the rest of the hike would not be simple.

The first major ascent provided us with great views of the lava rock-filled valley we had just hiked and mountains in the distance. Our nemesis soon became the wooden stairs on the climb that forced us to take the same size steps over and over. We would pass people who were taking a break, and they would pass us a few minutes later as we rested. But the rests gave us time to enjoy the views.

A view of the valley from the first ascent.

The stairs probably reduced erosion but increased difficulty for us.

Eventually, we finished the first ascent and had a snack while sitting right next to Mt. Ngauruhoe, also known as Mt. Doom to Lord of the Rings fans. There was a "path" up to the peak of the volcano, but we wanted to finish the hike without becoming too familiar with a giant, slanted scree field. But Mt. Ngauruhoe was impressive to see in its barren massiveness. The first picture of the post shows it.

After climbing through so much rock covered landscape, our next leg felt strangely empty and surprisingly flat. The South Crater was completely different in that it was a giant valley of packed dirt. I liked it because its flatness and nakedness reminded me of a moonscape. Unfortunately, it was followed by the second ascent that lacked nice wide stairs, which were replaced with loose dirt and rock along a narrow trail. I wouldn't say it felt dangerous, but the there was just enough uncertainty that it took my mind off of my unfitness. It took us past the Red Crater, which was a steep, uh, crater that was, uh, red. Despite my description (or the description of the guy who named it), it was actually very impressive.

Us in the flat South Crater.

The second ascent began after the South Crater without any tidy stairs.

The view of Mt. Ngauruhoe from the second ascent

The Red Crater was indeed quite red.

Emily checks out the Red Crater.

After the Red Crater, we reached our highest point on the main route at 6,187 feet, which is a little higher than Denver. There were two higher side trips up Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe that were possible, but we were doing well enough to make it up the main route. Our descent required even more care than the second ascent because the path was loose dirt and rocks all the way down a steep incline. Some people chose to take the loose rock path, but I found that walking in soft dirt decreased the chances of slipping. The initial hike down was made more difficult by the amazing views of the Emerald Lakes, which drew your eyes away from the path.

After passing the Red Crater, we saw geothermal steam, the Emerald Lakes below us, and Blue Lake in the distance.

The descent towards the Emerald Lakes was a little precarious.

The Emerald Lakes were quite a sight though.

After managing the slippery initial descent, we hiked across another crater called Central Crater and had a picnic lunch of pita bread, salami, and trail mix next to Blue Lake. We felt good having the strenuous parts behind us.

We decided to eat the food we packed in by Blue Lake.

Not a bad lunch time view.

In the other direction, we could see Red Crater in front of Mt. Ngauruhoe.

The rest of the descent consisted of long, winding switchbacks of packed dirt. And since the endpoint was lower than the starting point, we had to descend even farther, which was not great for our knees. The final mile or two was wooded forest that finally opened up into a parking lot. We waited there for about 20 minutes until our shuttle picked us up and took us back to the hotel, where we settled the bill and drove to our next destination, Turangi, where we planned on doing some relaxing.