New Zealand - Our Epic Trek at Tongariro Crossing

Officially called the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, this hike was one of the main things we wanted to do while in New Zealand. A 19.4 km (about 12 miles) "tramp" (as they say in NZ) with some detour options which make it longer if you chose. A few months ago, Julio had shown me a YouTube video by someone who had done the hike and it looked like a somewhat peaceful, albeit long -ahem,really long- walk.  So we prepared as best we could. We contracted a shuttle to take us to the Mangatepopo trail head, we checked the weather- no precipitation, low of 0 Celsius for the day we wanted to go, we were prepared for any kind of weather, we bought lots of water and snacks to take with us, we got lots of rest.


Lets just say there were some surprises! It wasn't anything like that you tube video from six months ago in a few ways.  The views and landscape were way more breath taking that I could have imagined. We were hiking up to the base and around Mt. Ngauruhoe the whole time (2290 m)- also known as Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings movies. We were crossing and peering over craters, the red crater being the most impressive. And walking alongside beautiful crystal clear blue and emerald lakes.  We were peering over the cloud level, walking among lava rock formations and just generally awed at a new incredible view every few meters.

The "before" pictures

Just starting out

With incredible views came incredible challenges. The first 6 km were some of the hardest because it was mostly steep uphill and stairs, called the "devils stairs" on the official guide.  It didn't help that we over estimated how much water we would need by about 1.5 liters each so that was a lot of extra weight we were carrying. More than once we felt super weak as if we wanted to faint from the exertion.

"the devil`s stairs"

There were two detours from the main route that trekkers could decide to take or not. One was a three hour detour to climb up Mt. Doom, which we did not do. The other one, which we decided to do, was to the Mt. Tongariro Summit- adding 3 km to our journey or about an hour and half. It was more uphill trekking, followed by walking on the side of a huge sand mountain without anything from keeping you from rolling down.... but worth it.  We got one of the most stunning views on the whole trek- of Mt. Doom, of the infinite valley and farmland beyond and the clouds.

Tongariro Summit to the right and Mt. Doom to the left.

Just a few meters away from Tongariro Summit.

resting on the rocky summit, taking in the view

After resting at the summit we had new energy and headed to the red crater. The colors were so vibrant contrasted to the grays and browns of the majority of the landscape.

 Next was making our way down to the emerald lakes on practically a sand dune hoping we didn't slide in to anyone or kick rocks or dust at them and hoping no one did the same to us.

At the emerald lakes we had some comic relief when Julio went to stick his finger in one of them and a Korean lady nearby warned him it was very very hot. We had been to some thermal pools in other places in New Zealand that were literally boiling and others at almost 100 Celsius so this was a legitimate concern. Very cautiously Julio tests the water and it turns out to be icy. We all laugh and take a picture.  Later when we saw them on the path, the only Korean phrase I know comes in handy "gapshida shindu" - "come on friends!" (Thanks to the Korean group that I led around Mexico who taught me this!)

At the blue lake, the long descent starts- not quite challenge free however.  About 6 km from the end, after having hiked 17 km, my knees start hurting on downhill inclines and descending stairs. I was not expecting this! I have had knee pain before but only after running.  So for awhile we were moving at a snails pace, about 1 km per half hour. I had to go slower and avoid bending by knees on steep inclines and stairs.

The slow descent

We arrived at the Ketetahi car park at right about 5pm, 9 hours after we started. That night we stayed at a "luxurious" camper sight that had a hot tub, a kitchen and hot showers.  We put icy hot on our knees and thus ended our epic trek at Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

The "After" pictures!