The adventures of Jeremy and Bridget part 2: Days 11- 14

Tongariro Norther Circuit
And we survived! We successfully made it around the volcano and to our next destination (Manapouri). But before that, I've got some blogging to catch up on! I've posted everything at once so you don't have to scroll down and read backwards to go in chronological order. I also posted the pictures in-line (and made them bigger) rather than at the end of the post so things follow a bit easier in time. But first, some quick stats before we start.

Number of days/nights: 4/3
Total distance on the trail: 33.9 miles
Total elevation gained: 7,194 feet (719 stories)
Total time on the trail: 12 hours, 22 minutes
Average speed: 2.74 mi/hr excluding breaks (not bad, eh?)
Number of videos taken: 114
Number of pictures taken: Way more than that (it's harder to count on the iPhone than I thought...)
Number of pictures with at least one volcano: Most of them :)

And second, a bit of background on the national park. The park boasts 3 volcanos: Mt Tongariro, Mt Ngauruhoe, and Mt Ruapehu. Mt Tongariro is the namesake of the park but is more of a ridge than a proper "volcano". Mt Ngauruhoe is Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings (really) and looks like a prototypical, conical, science-class paper-mache volcano. Pretty sweet... as long as it doesn't erupt (which it didn't). Mt Ruapehu is the tallest and widest of the three and sports skiing during the winter, although there were still large snow fields that we saw on the hike. Our tramp (NZ word for hike) went around Mt Ngauruhoe, which involved climbing the ridge between Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe (as you'll see on Day 2), which was epic!

Aiight folks - here we go!

Day 1 - The saga begins
So, the day began with sunshine, clear skies, and clouds to our north. Better than I was expecting, but the clouds to our north were ominous since that is the direction of the park we were going to be tramping through (tramping - New Zealand word for hiking).

Not bad, eh?

As we drove north, my fears were confirmed. The clouds grew, the rain started, and things looked pretty bleak outside. Like really bleak. Like get soaked running from your car to the front door kind of bleak. So, we're sitting at the visitor center asking about hiking conditions as the trail route described stream crossings and the forecast had high winds. With the deluge at hand, the last thing we wanted to experience were flash floods from runoff from the volcano and get swept or blown away. Luckily for us, there just so happened to be a parking lot about a mile from the hut we were supposed to end at, so we opted to have our friends drop us there (thanks Brian and Monica!) save a few miles of hiking in the rain even though it would cut our total experience a bit short. But with the rain and cloud "cover" (like covered us from all around), we didn't figure we would really see or enjoy much of that anyway. So, we started the tramp by saying farewell to our friends and hello to the rain. Now, this rain was impressive. The trail was more like a stream with water gushing down at us. And the rain was falling in unrelenting waves aimed directly at us. So, we tucked our heads and ran. Our non-waterproof clothes were soaked within a minute and our boots were overflowing by the time we finished the 18-minute sprint to the hut (Bridget made it there first, of course).

On the trail

View from the hut

Luckily we had grabbed rain covers for our packs so our gear wasn't soaked. We the joined the humid and overcrowded crew in the hut and got our clothing/boots in rotation by the fire to dry things off. We passed the rest of the day playing games and waiting for the rain to let up, which it finally did around sundown (~9pm).

Day 2 - Up and over and back again
Day 2 started with much brighter skies (and hopes for staying dry) than when we went to sleep. The clouds had risen and the rain stopped by the time we got started on the trail (around 10am). We could finally make out Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom) on our right as we started up the trail.

Mt Doom looming over us

As we climbed up the ridge between Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Tongariro (the trail is nicknamed the devils staircase), the clouds began to spill over from the other side. By the time we reached the top, we were back in cloud soup with no visibilty. And no rain either, which was appreciated. And luckily the trails were very well-marked with posts every 50 feet or so. So we continued in near blindness scrambling up and over ridges and hoping for a break in the clouds.

Following the signposts into the mist...

We saw a few mostly-obscured crater lakes, but they could barely be made out. We waited for a bit at the highest point on the trail, but the clouds kept coming. Rather than stay up there in the wind and clouds, we shrugged our shoulders and started down the trail to our hut for night 2.

Coming down in the clouds

(little did we know we were at the edge of a huge crater at the time!)

After about another hour of hiking down, we finally emerged from the clouds and could actually see something. The barren landscape looked like Mordor from Lord of the Rings - a rocky mixture of reds, browns, and blacks as the valley had been shaped over the centuries by volcanic eruptions, wind, and rain. we made it to the hut around 2pm and had lunch (pita bread with PB&J) and got our packs off of our shoulders. What a relief!

Someone was happy to be out of the clouds

This just looks like a chunk of frozen lava

And, as luck would have it, about an hour later, the clouds start to break and the views back to where we had come from starting getting clearer. And clearer. And clearer still. By 3:45pm, we could see the whole trail we had just walked down. And it looked spectacular. So, despite having already hiked 7.8 miles with 2,357 feet of climbing we decided to head back up the ridge to take pictures since we may not have another chance. You know, why not? Bridget took a cat nap and we were off! And boy were we glad we did. The views were unbelievably spectacular. It turns out that we had hiked up and down the side of a huge crater, down past emerald-green crater lakes, and past a steaming hillside of steam and sulfur. Even the panoramas don't do it justice, but here are some pictures to try...

One of the emerald crater lakes

The red spot on Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom)

At the crater lakes

The valley beyond the waterfall

Video pano at the top

The ground was literally smoldering

Video of smoldering rocks

By the time we got back to the hut (~7pm), we had tacked on an extra 3 hours on our feet covering an extra 6.8 miles and 1,794 ft of climbing. A long day, but worth it. We finished things off with dinner (soup) teaching some new-found friends how to play Dominion, a card game that Bridget and I enjoy (apparently enough to have me haul it around in my pack around a volcano in New Zealand). Our game was interrupted by a spectacular sunset with fiery spokes of orange that looked like they were coming out of the volcano! So cool!

Day 2 sunset

Day 3 - Best weather yet
We woke up to more rain and clouds, but since we had less than 5 miles to hike, decided to hang out in the hut until things cleared up. We were so glad we went back up the ridge the day before - it was cloudy and the wind was so strong the ranger turned back! Our trail, on the other hand, went around the base of the volcano = minimal wind exposure and little climbing. The trail wound around through the volcanic landscape and headed toward Mt Ruapehu; giving us views of both big volcanoes at the same time. Check out the view at lunch break!

On the trail with Mt Ruepehu in sight

Not a bad lunch spot, eh?

Trail takes a turn into the woods (it was hot in there!)

We arrived to the hut with blue skies at our backs and a light breeze wafting over the landscape. The hut was recently built and had wooden porches and picnic tables for outdoor enjoyment - it felt like the Hilton after the crowded bunkhouses of the previous 2 nights! We enjoyed the sun with a relaxing afternoon of reading and soaking in the sun (me getting sunburn). We had more soup and played more Dominion with our friends who beat us twice in a row! The sunset wasn't as spectacular as the previous night, but was still great.

Day 3 sunset

Day 4 - And back again
Our last day started early (8am wake-up), as we had a long walk to catch our shuttle at 3pm. We had our oatmeal and tea, packed our bags for the 4th time in 4 days, applied sunscreen (key activity), and took off under blue skies dotted with whispy clouds hanging out by the peaks of the volcanoes. The trail we took is right between Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Ngauruhoe, which lent to infinite new views of the same thing. There was still running water draining from the deluge a few days back in the newly cut trenches and streams. About halfway through, there was a side trail up to two crater lakes. We figured we hadn't walked enough (joke), so we tacked that on.