Yesterday Nolan and I walked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The Thursday we hitched to 6k away from the start, passing by New Zealands' ludicrous excuse for a "desert" (50k of mildly yellow brush) and ending up on a road where we set up our tent. 10 minutes later a lady came in a pickup asking us not-so-politely to clear off. So we slept on a dirt road 200m away. 6:30 yesterday morning a truck came trundling by. Fortunately we weren't seen, but we got the hell out of there ASAP.
We got to the start of the Crossing around 8, and climbed up to what used to be Takake Hut. Takake Hut overlooks what was thought to be a dormant volcano until 2012. Following the explosion of 2012, the DOC rapidly came to the conclusion that they should not be charging people to spend a night there.
Onwards we went, climbing up 1000 meters until we got to blue Lake, a gorgeous Lake filling a crater. Here we ran into throngs of people. We probably crossed paths with a thousand people today. Despite being far from solitary, it was beautiful. Several green geothermal pools sat beneath us, contrasting beautifully with the black igneous rock as we climbed higher to a view of Mt. Ngaruhoe, known to Tolkien fans as Mt. Doom.
At the base of Mt. Doom I dropped my pack and started climbing. It was soft dirt and scree most of the way up the 700m, but the view at the top was well worth it. Mt. Ruapehu was snow capped and gorgeous, and I could see all the way to Mt. Taranaki, poking out of the clouds 100k away. All too soon I ran/slid down the scree field, eventually getting back on the trail and catching up with Nolan at the carpark.
Check out facebook.com/phonsinger to see all the photos of this fantastic, blue sky day!
We got to the start of the Crossing around 8, and climbed up to what used to be Takake Hut. Takake Hut overlooks what was thought to be a dormant volcano until 2012. Following the explosion of 2012, the DOC rapidly came to the conclusion that they should not be charging people to spend a night there.
Onwards we went, climbing up 1000 meters until we got to blue Lake, a gorgeous Lake filling a crater. Here we ran into throngs of people. We probably crossed paths with a thousand people today. Despite being far from solitary, it was beautiful. Several green geothermal pools sat beneath us, contrasting beautifully with the black igneous rock as we climbed higher to a view of Mt. Ngaruhoe, known to Tolkien fans as Mt. Doom.
At the base of Mt. Doom I dropped my pack and started climbing. It was soft dirt and scree most of the way up the 700m, but the view at the top was well worth it. Mt. Ruapehu was snow capped and gorgeous, and I could see all the way to Mt. Taranaki, poking out of the clouds 100k away. All too soon I ran/slid down the scree field, eventually getting back on the trail and catching up with Nolan at the carpark.
Check out facebook.com/phonsinger to see all the photos of this fantastic, blue sky day!