Tongariro Crossing and such ~ Derek's Travels

As I mentioned earlier, the day trek across Tongariro Park is supposed to be one of the best in New Zealand, so I was already looking forward to the hike, and even more so when I overheard a few locals at my hostel that had driven up to do the hike in the great weather that we were having, as the weather in this area is often very volatile and can bring cold or rain at a moment's notice, making the hike considerably less enjoyable, since the majority of the hike is completely exposed to the elements. Also, this entire national park has a few well known sites, as the Lord of the Rings trilogy used the site as their version of Mordor and Mt. Ngauruhoe as Mt. Doom. I'd tell you more details, but the movie was long, and I don't remember much of it, and then Brett would just be mad that I disrespected the "best trilogy ever." A bus ride took us to the start of the 10 mile hike, and soon we were off, as the hike is supposed to take about 7 or 8 hours, and the last bus left late in the afternoon, so most people weren't keen on the idea of being stuck on the mountain.

The scenery started off with a few small, dry shrubs, lots of large red, orange and black volcanic rocks and large mountains around each side. About an hour into the walk, we came to the most difficult portion - Devil's Staircase, I believe. It starts off with a steep uphill, and then, just to be consistent, continues with a very steep uphill for the next 40 minutes. From the bottom, looking all the way up to the top, seeing the tiny figurines slowly make their way up the mountain, the trail is daunting, and the view is no less discouraging once on the side of the mountain. Scrambling over big boulders, sliding back as you step on bits of gravel and ash, feeling like you're walking up an eternal staircase, the climb was slow going, made a bit less enjoyable by an incredibly whiny Canadian who was complaining to her friends and anyone that was lucky enough to be in her vicinity about how she'd never do this again, and how unhappy she was that they convinced her to do the walk. Despite the burning feeling in my calves, the view below us was amazing, and after about 45 minutes of walking, I reached the top and took a break, marvelling at the view below and watching the next set of walkers cross the threshold and breathe a sigh of relief.

From here, we had a great view of Mt. Doom/Ngauruhoe, which is said to be a very tough climb, since it is very steep and covered in layers of ash, meaning that you slip back after every single step, and there was really no time to add on a 3 hour detour. At this point, the trail crosses a desolate, windy area that looks like a salt flat with absolutely no vegetation, just some random stones and a lot of dirt, bordered by a dried up sulfuric lake and two volcanic peaks. At this point, I remembered my iPod and came up with the perfect music match for my hike. This desolate area reminded me of a movie in which they are traveling by motorcycle through a barren part of the Patagonia in South America, so I summoned up the Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack and had the absolutely perfect accompaniment for my solitary, desolate walk. I came to another steep hill which led us to the highest point on the trek and a view of a few bright green or blue sulfuric lakes on the other side of the peak, known as the Emerald Lakes. As I slowly slid my way down the gravelly hill, taking a step, then sliding another two, I got past the strong sulfuric odor and found a spot on a rock to have another peanut butter sandwich and some of my fruit. Another long crossing was upon me, before reaching a large crater lake and the downhill portion of the journey. At this point, I also met an Irish girl named Emur and a girl from Seattle named Weena who shared a few stories with me as we made our way down the mountain (and I hope I spelled their names correctly). We talked about leaving our jobs, travel destinations visited and slated for our next trips and anything else that came up. When speaking about some Asian vacations, Emur told us a story of her experience taking some anti-malarial pills. Many anti-malarial pills are said to be really strong with quite a bit of side effects, particularly known to cause very crazy dreams among many, many people. I also spoke to someone that said his girlfriend got really, really depressed on them (another side effect), and within two weeks time, she was talking about suicide, so these pills are quite potent. Anyway, Emur apparently took some of the ones that were not supposed to affect your dreams, yet she told us about one of the weird dreams that she did have. Apparently, she and her friends were sort of prisoners or detainees during WWII in Germany, though not in a concentration camp or anything like that. She and her friends were playing kickball to pass the time, and then, all of a sudden, a group of officers decided that they wanted to join the game - among them, Adolf Hitler. Not being able to say no to Hitler, they resumed playing with the new additions, though she said that Hitler was cheating a bit and running the wrong way around the bases. Frustrated, they continued playing his way, and after conferring, decided that none of them really wanted to confront Hitler and tell him that he was cheating. As you can see, some interesting conversations have come about from the random friends that you pick up here and there.

Finally, we continued down the back side of the second volcano, and eventually, we made our way from the rocky terrain into some grasslands which eventually gave way to a bit of forest and some much needed shade. The first 3/4 of the trek is completely exposed to the sun, with a few hot portions and a lot of wind swirling across the flats, with the final portion the only part with any significant vegetation and eventually cover. The walk was somewhat challenging, especially the first portion, and it turned out to great day for it in terms of the weather. As a volcanic park with three active volcanoes, the land is covered in volcanic rocks, sulfur pools, ash, gravel and a few small plants, making for a harsh, yet interesting, sweeping landscapes. I decided to take the rest of the day easy and head back to the same hostel for a quiet night around the tv and my comfortable bed before heading off tomorrow, though I'm not quite sure of my next stop or even direction. Perhaps Mt. Taranaki, which was used as Mt. Fuji in the Last Samurai. No, not all of my trips are based on movies, but that is a good idea...

UPDATE: On March 18, the large crater lake of Mt. Ruapehu broke through the walls of the cauldron and caused a lahar (volcanic mudslide/flood), rolling down the mountain, picking up boulders and debris along the way. Fortunately, after a large eruption in 1995 and 1996, scientists had been anticipating and preparing for this event, so there was minimal damage and no one was injured, though some rivers flooded and plants were wiped out, though it's a bit scary to think that I was just a few minutes away from the lake a few days earlier.

(The first portion of the trail, on a boardwalk that crosses over some of the boggy parts)

(Just after finishing Devil's Staircase, which is below, though you can't really see it here)

(Mt. Doom in the background and the dried up sulfur lake. You can see the tiny trail in the dirt over my left shoulder. It's the light brown line in the darker brown part.)

(The Emerald Lakes - fortunately the picture doesn't come with the pleasant odor of sulfur.)