rain, volcanic ash,
craters, lakes, bush, cicadas -
this hike had it all
Showing posts with label Tongariro National Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tongariro National Park. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Tongariro National Park, Day 2: still no hobbits! I want a refund.
Pieke, the lovely guide from our Tui trip who offered to hike the crossing with me, arrived bright and early Friday morning and we boarded the shuttle to the drop off point. On the way she chatted with the bus driver - she seems to know everyone on the island as it is, but she also used to work winters in National Park so this tramp was a bit of a homecoming for her. Given the impending weather, I was even more grateful that she offered to join me on the trek.
The bus driver gave us a stern safety talk before letting us off the shuttle. It's a pretty intense hike (they estimate 6-8 hours of exposed hiking over about 12 miles, winds can be treacherous, visibility can be low to nil, etc) and once you get up there you're pretty much stuck with no means of shelter from wind or rain. They've had to rescue people who head up without water, proper clothing, food - we call them dumb - and as a result, they've really upped the safety warnings in recent years. The girl working at the hostel even said that the shuttle won't take you there if winds are more than 80km/hour. (You can still go on your own, but this absolves them from responsibility.)
But! Off we went, starting from the Mangatepopo car park.
The first two hours pretty much sucked. Not the hiking - the trail itself was well maintained and fairly easy - but the mountains were completely fogged in and for the most part we couldn't see a thing. I was sad that I missed the peaks and a lot of the scenery (especially since my nerd curiosity was interested in comparing landscape to the Lord of the Rings movie - this is where they filmed the Mordor scenes). At some points we caught glimpses of mountains...
... and a few foggy lakes
(this one was Emerald,
which I bet is gorgeous on a clear day)
Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets. It was an absolutely amazing trek. At times it was like I was walking on the moon - if the moon had really low visibility and red rocks scattered across volcanic valleys, that is.
The good news was, since the weather was such crap, we made it to the hut for lunch in record time (as I recall, we left around 8am and reached the hut by 11:30am or so). Freezing and wet, we rested there for about 20 minutes and then put our soggy boots back on to finish the trail.
On the way down the weather cleared remarkably. REMARKABLY. In about 30 minutes we started stripping off layers and the balmy rainforest thawed us out.
We reached the end of the trail around 2pm and the shuttle wasn't coming until 4pm. Lucky for me, Pieke ran into some friends and we got a ride back to town. Squeezing into a hatchback with five other people wasn't exactly fun, but they were very nice, it was a short ride and I was so very grateful not to have to sit in the sun for two hours.
That evening I enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner and attempted to read by the fire... and promptly fell asleep by 9pm. Long, good day. The perfect almost-end to an almost-perfect trip.
The bus driver gave us a stern safety talk before letting us off the shuttle. It's a pretty intense hike (they estimate 6-8 hours of exposed hiking over about 12 miles, winds can be treacherous, visibility can be low to nil, etc) and once you get up there you're pretty much stuck with no means of shelter from wind or rain. They've had to rescue people who head up without water, proper clothing, food - we call them dumb - and as a result, they've really upped the safety warnings in recent years. The girl working at the hostel even said that the shuttle won't take you there if winds are more than 80km/hour. (You can still go on your own, but this absolves them from responsibility.)
But! Off we went, starting from the Mangatepopo car park.
about 20 minutes in,
before we lost all visibility
before we lost all visibility
The first two hours pretty much sucked. Not the hiking - the trail itself was well maintained and fairly easy - but the mountains were completely fogged in and for the most part we couldn't see a thing. I was sad that I missed the peaks and a lot of the scenery (especially since my nerd curiosity was interested in comparing landscape to the Lord of the Rings movie - this is where they filmed the Mordor scenes). At some points we caught glimpses of mountains...
... but for the most part it was this ...
... and this ...
... and a few foggy lakes (this one was Emerald,
which I bet is gorgeous on a clear day)
Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets. It was an absolutely amazing trek. At times it was like I was walking on the moon - if the moon had really low visibility and red rocks scattered across volcanic valleys, that is.
The good news was, since the weather was such crap, we made it to the hut for lunch in record time (as I recall, we left around 8am and reached the hut by 11:30am or so). Freezing and wet, we rested there for about 20 minutes and then put our soggy boots back on to finish the trail.
hostess with the mostess Pieke
On the way down the weather cleared remarkably. REMARKABLY. In about 30 minutes we started stripping off layers and the balmy rainforest thawed us out.
balmy
rainforest
We reached the end of the trail around 2pm and the shuttle wasn't coming until 4pm. Lucky for me, Pieke ran into some friends and we got a ride back to town. Squeezing into a hatchback with five other people wasn't exactly fun, but they were very nice, it was a short ride and I was so very grateful not to have to sit in the sun for two hours.
That evening I enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner and attempted to read by the fire... and promptly fell asleep by 9pm. Long, good day. The perfect almost-end to an almost-perfect trip.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tongariro National Park, Day 1: the end is near.
goodbye to good friends
time for three days on my own
mountains, here i come!
time for three days on my own
mountains, here i come!
Tongariro National Park, Day 1: I {heart} quiet mountain towns.
Big travel day today. The morning flight to Auckland was uneventful, and after picking up the rental car I headed south. The weather was dreary - overcast if not rainy, cold - which didn't bode well for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing the next day, but I figured that however the day turned out, it would be better than sitting in a cube.
I arrived at the Ski Haus hostel late in the afternoon and was thrilled to learn that I had a 5-bunk dorm all to myself. Tongariro National Park is in a pretty remote area of the island so after settling in, I wandered around "town" for a bit and then headed back for dinner. Other than a few families and couples, the only others at the hostel were three young folks who hung out in the common area all night complaining about how there was nothing to do.
I, on the other hand, loved that there was nothing to do.
Early to bed in prep for the big adventure!
Piriaka Lookout
on the way to Tongagiro National Park
on the way to Tongagiro National Park
I arrived at the Ski Haus hostel late in the afternoon and was thrilled to learn that I had a 5-bunk dorm all to myself. Tongariro National Park is in a pretty remote area of the island so after settling in, I wandered around "town" for a bit and then headed back for dinner. Other than a few families and couples, the only others at the hostel were three young folks who hung out in the common area all night complaining about how there was nothing to do.
I, on the other hand, loved that there was nothing to do.
Early to bed in prep for the big adventure!
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