Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Another big crossing today! This time in Tongariro National Park passing over the active volcano, Mount Tongariro, and over the base of Mount Ngauruhoe (aka Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings). We parked at the end and caught a shuttle back to the beginning again. This time the shuttles were full busses rather than a small van - should have been a sign of how crowded this hike would be! The morning started off pretty cloudy as we walked through the valley which unfortunately meant we had no view of Mt Doom. Chris actually thought the mountain we saw two days ago was Mt Doom though so we didn’t even know what we were missing. The crater valley reminded us of the crater hike in Hawaii! At the end of the valley we climbed a long steep track to the Red Crater, which is the highest point in the hike. Because of the crowds this part was pretty slow. Lots of waiting since there wasn’t a way to safely pass. The wind at the top of the crater was very gusty, enough to make you loose your balance… or your hat… which Chris experienced when his went flying down one of the steep slopes. Luckily he was able to retrieve it and return to the path safely. Once at the top you could see the emerald pools as the clouds stated to clear. We walked down a very steep volcanic rock scree (basically just loose rocks on a ridge with cliffs on either side) to reach them. This part was a little scary so we don’t have any photos and our walking sticks really came in handy! Chris opted for faster is better and Chels was very very slow… we’ll let you guess who “almost” fell and who didn’t. The emerald pools were beautiful, especially once the sun came out. We stopped for lunch on a rock alongside them, trying to avoid the stinky sulfur vents. We continued on to the Blue Lake which was much larger and also very blue. From there it was a short climb back out of the valley and then a very very very long decent of zig zag paths back down to the car. We were exhausted by the time we finished so we picked up Indian fusion pizza and some local beers on the way home and enjoyed the hot tub at our Airbnb before an early bedtime.Read more