Tongariro National Park

Alternate title: Mt. Doom gets cloudy.

We awoke to a beautiful view on the north side of Lake Taupo. A great freedom camping site, it had one pit toilet, or as they say here, a long drop toilet. We agreed that we wished we could stay longer everywhere to just enjoy our many gorgeous campsites. Each one has lovely hikes and walks all around it. And Lake Taupo was huge and very gorgeous in the sunrise.

It's not as large as one of the great lakes, but still very large. It took us about 40 minutes to drive from the north at Taupo, to the south end at Turangi. So we got on the road right away, and got breakfast at a cafe connected to a bait shop (Taupo is known for trout fishing), connected to gas station. I had the full mixed grill, which included "streaky" bacon, sausages that are very finely ground with an outer casing that feels like paper, eggs and cooked tomatoe. And a flat white of course.

Our destination today was Tongariro National Park, and the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This was New Zealand's first national park, and the 4th ever in the world. In 1887, after the Land Wars, a foward thinking Maori cheif gave it en tact to the crown as a national park. He feard that their sacred area would be parceled up and turned into sheep pastures, like so much of the charming countryside today.

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is considered one of New Zealand's "Great Walks", and the best one day walk. Nate had massaged my calves the day previous, and so I felt reasonably recovered after our Mt. Te Aroha hike. It's about 20km, that's estimated to take 6-8 hours to complete.

In traveling, it's important to accept that weather is weather. So when an enormous cloud came and settled over the entire park, completely covering all 3 volcanoes, well, we were disappointed. But it also had its interest. I was reminded of seeing the Isle of Skye in Scotland. What typically looked like the home of faries in all the photos, was freezing, driving rain the whole day we were there. And the time I went camping in Denali. I gave myself 3 full days at the campsite to try and capture the photo I wanted, but when the whole state caught on fire, I coudln't even tell I was camping at the base of one of the tallest peaks in North America.

The best you can do in planning for weather, if you don't have unlimited time, is just plan to dress for it. Which we did. With long johns, and sweaters, and rainproof layers, and hats, we set out with snacks and water.

When in nature, I highly suggest taking a professional geologist with you everywhere. If you don't have your own geologist, I have one I can recommend. Nate was terrific at describing the geologic landscape to me, and found many interesting rocks to examine. Lava rocks had been thrown everywhere, black, twisted and craggy. They were fascinating. And the clouds rising and lowering over the valley gave everything a very mystical and primitive feel. Twisted craggy shadows would emerge out of the mist and vanish again.

To our right was Mt. Ngauruhoe, the famed Mt. Doom of Lord of the Rings, and to our left was Mt. Tongoriro. Both of them young, active volcanoes. Mt. Doom is the youngest volcanoe on the island, and until 1975 was eruping every 9 years. Unfortunately, you'd never know we were walking between them. The mountains were not visible at all.

We made our way 5 km in to Soda Springs, through intermittent rain and wind, and then headed back out. Heading over alpine crossings in stormy weather is strongly discouraged in Colorado, as well as New Zealand. And the view would'nt've improved. It was predicted to rain through Thursday.

I have to say, I had been rather intimidated by the hike. After all, locals acted like Mt. Te Aroha was a 3 hour jaunt, and it had been extremely difficult. There are multiple warnings surrounding the Tongoriro Alpine Crossing, about how tough it is, and requires a high level of fitness, etc. But now I think that primarily has to do with the popularity of the hike. The more popular the hike, the more information abounds, the more people do it, and the more tourists do it badly. I now definitely think I could've completed the Tongariro crossing in 8 hours with an early start and good weather. Mt. Te Aroha was much more brutal.

We've now started our shift north, up the western coast. We'll explore the Forgotten World Highway tomorrow.Read more