Tongariro Alpine Crossing & Mt Doom

Today was TOUGH. And long. And a bit painful. And one hell of a day.

I had been psyching myself up for this day even before we came to New Zealand and Allan first mentioned the Tongariro Crossing and climbing Mount Doom (aka Mount Ngauruhoe). When we were climbing Ruminahui in Ecuador and had to slide precariously down scree, he mentioned the similarities to Mount Doom. I hated the scree on Ruminahui, so it did not fill me with confidence or excitement for Mount Doom.

When we got closer to deciding to do the hike, I decided to do the whole Tongariro Crossing, a feat in and of itself at just under 20 kilometers, and add on Mount Doom because I could always quit if it got too hard. The problem was, when I wanted to quit, was on the way down, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We were up early before the sun to make some hot water for breakfast and then we made the short 15–20 minute drive to Tongariro National Park where the hike would begin. When we got there, it was already super busy, but weirdly most pf the people were all hanging around at the shelter at the trail entrance rather than getting started. The sun was almost up by this point, and it was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day (we picked this day for the stunning forecast). It was chilly though, so we had layered up before starting.

The beginning of the trail was pretty easy. We meandered along the well-marked path which was pretty flat to start. We wound our way through the valley and occasionally had a small incline. We got a gorgeous view over the valley as the sun rose past the low-lying clouds. Once the sun was up, it started to heat up pretty quickly and burn off those clouds and our need for layers. After a few kilometers of easy trail, we began the walk up the Devil's Steps, which again, weren't as bad as the name suggests. They were well marked stairs rather than rough and bouldery and despite the steepness of some sections, I felt pretty ok! We were also getting closer to the base of Mount Doom, and it all started to feel pretty manageable! Boy did that feeling come crashing down...

Once we made it up Devil's Steps, we diverted towards the base of Mount Doom. I was still feeling apprehensive at this point, because I knew it as steep and there was over half of the actual Tongariro Crossing left to do, including the steep sections, but I was feeling good and the distance to the top of Mount Doom didn't seem so bad. We started the walk to the base and found a good-ish place to leave the backpack so we wouldn't have to take turns carrying it up and back down (wise decision and even wiser in hindsight). We had some water, shared a banana and started making our way up.

The entire mountain is made up of volcanic rock of varying sizes: tiny scree pebbles, chunky rocks, and boulders large enough to climb. We couldn't scramble straight up the scree covered mountain, so we zigzagged up a combination of scree, loose rocks, and boulders. Scrambling and climbing over the boulders was difficult at times, but at least it felt like we made forward progress compared to the small sections of scree between the boulder sections. The rocks were pretty sharp and a mixture of red and black lava, getting progressively redder the closer we got to the top. Despite it only being about 5 kilometers, the 1400-meter ascent made the climb take longer than anticipated. Allan was incredibly patient, and often scouted the route ahead to make sure it wasn't too tricky for me.

We clambered over the last section of loose rock and boulders reaching the outer side of the crater, we had to go down into what was almost like an inner valley and back up to get to the inner crater and look inside the infamous, and active, volcano that is Mount Doom. The inside was littered with rocks of varying sizes and colors. Allan ran ahead, excited to be at the top. I was pretty terrified of slipping on all the loose rocks on the sidewalk sized edge of the crater, so I took my time; it was a long way down into the volcano, and to the bottom on the other side. I got closer to Allan, admiring the view from the top, and thankful that I had made it up. Based on everything Allan had said, and my previous experience with scree, going down would be a little scary, but wouldn't take nearly as long as going up. I took the time to admire the view and watch Allan as he ran all the way around the crater, and then for funsies decided to run down into the crater itself. Thankfully, he didn't go all the way to the center, but it was definitely a little dangerous! I kept an eye on the blue shirted speck down in the crater on one side of me, and looked down at the red scree and rock to the other side where we would soon be exiting the summit.

After Allan returned to the edge of the crater, we took our final pictures, marveled at the achievement, and then started to look for the way down. Because of the way the crater went in, we couldn't see over the initial part of the mountain to the lines of scree where people had gone down before. We looked for the least rocky sections for areas of scree where we could slide through and therefore down the mountain. It was not easy. I think we may have zigzagged more sideways across the mountain going down than we did on the way up. We would find sections that were ok with fewer chunky rocks, only to be thwarted after a few meters and have to cross horizontally to a different area. It was also steep. Very. Fucking. Steep. I couldn't stay on my feet. It was a horrible cycle of slide a few steps on my feet, shuffle, fall (hard) onto my ass, and then begin falling down the mountain by sliding on the lava rock frantically trying to stop myself. Allan was a few meters in front of me and I then got concerned about all the rocks that I caused to fall in his direction every time this happened. He then had to shout "rock!" to anyone below us as the rocks I stirred up from slip and sliding down the mountain gathered dangerous speed down the steep mountain for unaware people at the bottom.

We continued this pattern, me mostly falling and being terrified as I struggled for purchase to stop my sliding down the mountain. About halfway down, it looked like it was mostly soft scree without the chunky rocks. Allan gave me some tips and pointers on how to get down quickly by shifting my body weight and sliding my feet, had me show him, and then he ran down the mountain when he felt I was getting the hang of it. I did start to get the hang of it on the softer section, problem was, the soft section didn't last very long and it was back to predominantly sharp and chunky rock. The cycle resumed of horizontal criss-crossing in a bear crawl to a slightly less sharp section, tentative steps down, and a hard fall onto my ass before I started to slide down. The fear of not being able to get off the mountain overwhelmed me and on a harder fall and scrap along my palms and wrists and a narrow miss on a boulder to stop myself, I sat in the rocks and cried for a couple minutes. Then, I got up and kept trying. My ass hurt, my hands and wrists were cut up, and I was tired. I was also on my own, as Allan and all the people who had climbed the mountain were already down which exacerbated my fear of being stuck up there. With nothing to do but keep going, I kept shuffling and falling the rest of my way down eventually reaching the spot where we had left our bag four hours prior.

The tears of relief didn't come like I expected, but I looked up at the fucking mountain glad I would never have to climb it again. I got some hand sanitizer on my cut hands and had a wrap that Allan had made while I struggled down the mountain. After a brief rest, we had to get up and keep moving because there was still a good 12 kilometers of the hike to go, including the peak. I was dreading it, and concerned about how long it would take me to finish because all my energy was spent on Mount Doom.

We walked diagonally through a lava field to rejoin the path and not long after rejoining it, we began the main section of ascent on the trail up past Red Crater. The crater was pretty cool and reminded me of the red clay in Hawaii. I guess if its all volcanic based that would make sense. I huffed and puffed my way up the steep section to the fake top, and let out a small groan when I realized there was one more small steep section before the actual highest point on the trail. When we made it up, I looked back on Mount Doom in the distance, a bit incredulous that I actually managed to get up and down the thing, and then walked over the crest of the trail with the mountain disappearing behind me.

This middle section had some good views with a variety of lakes. The first was a series of green lakes with steam vents all over the place. The Emerald Lakes were true to their name and a vibrant green color. After taking a picture of them, and the Blue Lake in the distance, we started the walk down. I got deja vu because the sliding rocks on this path and the steepness felt similar to the scree and rock on the way down from Mount Doom. Not only did I not want to fall again because it would hurt, but there were a hell of a lot more people now to witness it if I did. Slowly but surely I made my way down, all the while hoping the whole rest of the trail wouldn't be like this because my legs were in agony and it would take me forever, eventually making it to the shore of the Emerald Lakes. The smell of sulphur was strong here and the ground was clay like in some parts. I took some pictures before I headed back onto the main path to continue the trail. Allan decided to run around the back section of the lakes and explore some more.

We met back up at a fork in the path and continued together to the still and beautiful Blue Lake. Allan and I sat together briefly looking at the view and had some water. He then said goodbye to me and went back the way we had come to the car. Because this is a thru hike, we parked at the start, but didn't want to pay the extortion fee to get a shuttle bus back to the start to our car. Allan offered to run back to the start and drive to the end to meet me. We were now about 12 kilometers in with 8 to go. He also had to go back up to the top before his all down section (I kept insisting he turn around earlier, but I think he wanted to make sure I was ok).

On my own now, I picked up the backpack and kept pressing forward. I could feel the fatigue in my legs, and I just hoped I would get to the end before the sun started going down. The rest of the trail was pretty uneventful and similar terrain. I went down switchbacks down an old lava flow covered in little lava vegetation. On the sections with stairs, I definitely felt it in my legs, but I felt less concerned about the dark and finishing because of all of the people that were still on this section of the trail. Not only was I still passing people, but there were plenty of people having a rest in areas too. I kept a steady pace and enjoyed the last section of the Tongariro Crossing, fueled by the fact that I was almost done and the accomplishment of my biggest day hike yet.

With a couple kilometers to go, the trail changed from open, hill and valley terrain to forest. It was a little wet and muddy in here because the sun never gets through the trees, but this also meant shelter from that same sun. The cool shade was very welcome, and I was glad for the change of scenery. The green foliage was nice, and there some small waterfalls and rivers running through the forest. At the start of the forest section, I got a text from Allan saying he had made it back tot he car and was getting cleaned up a little before coming to meet me. Unsurprisingly he did his 12 kilometers quicker than I did my downhill 8, but I didn't want him to come and walk more to find me. Therefore, I tried to pick up the pace. I managed a slightly faster walk, but I was pretty spent.

About a kilometer left, Allan messaged to say he was heading towards the finish parking lot. I texted back to say I only had a kilometer left so I wouldn't finish long after he arrived. I really didn't want to give him more walking to come and meet me like I knew he would. However, with about 300 meters to go, I saw him walking towards me. We finished the last couple hundred meters together and took our victory picture at the sign before I got changed in the car on the way to Gollum's Pools.

With Mount Doom being in Mordor in Lord of the Rings, it's no surprise that right down the road was the filming location for Gollum's Pools. However, the sun had set by this point, so it was a race with the residual light to get there and see them. We didn't make it in time to see with the light, but we brought the head lamps and took turns shining them to get pictures. We walked the 500 meters back to the car and did the hour and a bit drive to the campground in Taupo. Boy was I glad when we got there and saw some spaces. It's a busy one and I didn't want to have to work to find an alternative, but we got a space so all was well.

Feeling utterly spent, we made some dinner, cleaned up, and then it was straight to bed. I will never watch a Lord of the Rings movie the same again after climbing up that mountain.Read more