NZ Tongariro National Park

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Tongariro National Park

New Zealand DOC
Tongariro National Park is in the center of the North Island. It covers a huge area with lots of hiking trails. The centerpiece hike, and reputedly the nicest one day hike on the island, is the Tongariro Crossing. The trail passes by 3 volcanic craters and is framed by Mt. Tongariro on one side and Mt. Ngauruhoe on the other.

The trip, shown in red on the map, is 11.5 miles long, with about 2,800 feet of up (2+ Empire State Buildings) and somewhat more down -- we finished lower than we started.

We had planned to do the crossing on Monday, but the weather forecast was bad, and the DOC advised us to wait for a day. We had a chance to do some short hikes while we waited for the weather to clear (there wasn't much else to do besides hiking; if you blinked, you missed the local town).

(Click on any picture for a larger image.)

This was the view from the cabin at the lodge where we stayed.

The day after we arrived at the lodge, my luggage caught up with us. It had missed our flight in San Francisco and finally been flown into Auckland. Air New Zealand then flew the bag from there to a small regional airport in Taupo and promptly drove the suitcase the 40 miles to the lodge. They were really very good about the luggage, especially since the problem was mishandling by United in San Francisco.

This was on a short hike before we did the crossing. These are Silica Rapids: the white in the picture is silica deposits. The water that comes out of the ground loses carbon dioxide and the resulting pH change causes alumino-silicate deposits (guess which one of us provided that explanation).

Even the easy hikes had great views.

This was the sunset on the night before we set off. The next morning, we had a pre-dawn start to the Tongariro Crossing hike. Because it was a one-way walk and we finished 11 miles from where we started (about 30 miles by car), we needed to get a ride at each end from a shuttle. The shuttles dropped off around 6:30 a.m. and then picked up at 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

We've walked in a few miles on the flat. This is a view of Mt. Ngauruhoe. We're about to start uphill towards the Red Crater.

The landscape was very barren.

We've now come up the Red Crater. This is looking down the backside of the crater. The loose rock on the trail made for an easy descent -- you could "ski" down on the rocks, but provided a difficult ascent. It was kind of like hiking up on ball bearings. Not very difficult, but quite tiring.

On the right side of the picture, you can see the steam rising from the side of the crater.

This is a shots of two volcanic lakes, looking down from Red Crater. The lakes are brightly colored from minerals in the soil.

Emerald Lake.

This is looking up back up the Red Crater. You can see how steep the trail is.

The Red Crater is in the middle of the picture, and Mt. Ngauruhoe is in the background.

We've started the descent, coming down from the Red Crater, eventually descending about 3,000 feet. Note that the vegetation is much greener here.

Not something you see on the trail every day. The Department of Conservation (DOC) was doing some trail maintenance. A helicopter would bring along a bucketload of paving material, the crew would open the hopper and unload it.

Once the bucket was unloaded, the helicopter would take off for the next bucketful, and the crew would hurry to compact it the material so they were ready for the next load. There were about a half dozen people in the crew working on this

And here's the result. It was a real luxury having a paved trail, but I found it to be a hard hike down. The trail would be flat for a few paces and then there would be a step down, and then another flat section for a few strides, and then another step. It was hard to get a rhythm going.

The end! There were a lot of tired hikers (me, for example) and some not so tired (Bob). Instead of "Where's Waldo?" this is "Where's Harriet?" Bob knew better than to ask me to stand up and pose at that point.

You probably have to enlarge the picture to spot me.

Back to Rotorua On to the Milford Sound

	This was the view from the cabin at the lodge where we stayed. The day after we arrived at the lodge, my luggage caught up with us. It had missed our flight in San Francisco and finally been flown into Auckland. Air New Zealand then flew the bag from there to a small regional airport in Taupo and promptly drove the suitcase the 40 miles to the lodge. They were really very good about the luggage, especially since the problem was mishandling by United in San Francisco.
	This was on a short hike before we did the crossing. These are Silica Rapids: the white in the picture is silica deposits. The water that comes out of the ground loses carbon dioxide and the resulting pH change causes alumino-silicate deposits (guess which one of us provided that explanation).
	Even the easy hikes had great views.
	This was the sunset on the night before we set off. The next morning, we had a pre-dawn start to the Tongariro Crossing hike. Because it was a one-way walk and we finished 11 miles from where we started (about 30 miles by car), we needed to get a ride at each end from a shuttle. The shuttles dropped off around 6:30 a.m. and then picked up at 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
	We've walked in a few miles on the flat. This is a view of Mt. Ngauruhoe. We're about to start uphill towards the Red Crater. The landscape was very barren.
	We've now come up the Red Crater. This is looking down the backside of the crater. The loose rock on the trail made for an easy descent -- you could "ski" down on the rocks, but provided a difficult ascent. It was kind of like hiking up on ball bearings. Not very difficult, but quite tiring. On the right side of the picture, you can see the steam rising from the side of the crater.
	This is a shots of two volcanic lakes, looking down from Red Crater. The lakes are brightly colored from minerals in the soil.
	Emerald Lake.
	This is looking up back up the Red Crater. You can see how steep the trail is.
	The Red Crater is in the middle of the picture, and Mt. Ngauruhoe is in the background.
	We've started the descent, coming down from the Red Crater, eventually descending about 3,000 feet. Note that the vegetation is much greener here.
	Not something you see on the trail every day. The Department of Conservation (DOC) was doing some trail maintenance. A helicopter would bring along a bucketload of paving material, the crew would open the hopper and unload it.
	Once the bucket was unloaded, the helicopter would take off for the next bucketful, and the crew would hurry to compact it the material so they were ready for the next load. There were about a half dozen people in the crew working on this
	And here's the result. It was a real luxury having a paved trail, but I found it to be a hard hike down. The trail would be flat for a few paces and then there would be a step down, and then another flat section for a few strides, and then another step. It was hard to get a rhythm going.
	The end! There were a lot of tired hikers (me, for example) and some not so tired (Bob). Instead of "Where's Waldo?" this is "Where's Harriet?" Bob knew better than to ask me to stand up and pose at that point. You probably have to enlarge the picture to spot me.
Back to Rotorua	On to the Milford Sound