Tongariro Crossing

2015-02-21

Today we tackled the Tongariro Crossing, billed as the best one day tramp (Kiwi
for hike) in New Zealand.  The standard way to make the crossing is to park near
the northern terminus of the track and catch a shuttle to the southern trail
head where you begin the tramp.

On a beautiful day, you can see for miles as you summit Red Crater along the
trail.  You can also climb to the 7500 ft summit of Mt Ngauruhoe, the stand-in
volcano for Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Today was not one of those days.  Early in the week, the 5 day weather guess
(forecast) called for clear skies and calm winds.  I hastily made kid-sitting
arrangements, got a motel for the night and booked a ride with a mountain
shuttle service.  As the week wore on, the weather guessers were still calling
"Cloudy in the morning with fine spells", but my instinct was to cancel the trip
as I saw the tail end of Tropical Cyclone Marcia tickling the west coast of New
Zealand.  I should've gone with my instinct.

Our crossing was a fight against the weather for two of the seven hours it took
to complete the hike.  The summit of Red Crater is only about 6400 ft above sea
level, but there was a steady 40+ knot wind from the west with driving mist that
soaked us.  We were solidly in the weather and experienced none of the vistas we
had hoped to see.

Oh well.  At least we packed layers to ward off the cold and we didn't wear a
stitch of cotton.  Many of our fellow hikers were in shorts with light jackets
(some with jeans).  We were miserable, but they were pushing their luck.  It was
challenging.  We never intended to take the kids as the are-we-there-yets would
have been overwhelming.  Some kiddos did make the hike, but not many.

If anyone is interested in hiking on the track, I would suggest leaving your car
at Mangatepopo car park (the southern trail head) if there is the slightest hint
of bad weather.  Plan and execute a hike to Red Crater and return to
Mangatepopo.  Doing this, I think you'll see 90% of what there is to see and
you'll be in a better position to make a no-go decision if the weather turns
nasty.

We did take time to snap some photos but we didn't get many near the Red Crater
summit because we really wanted to keep moving.

Starting out

On the way to Soda Spring

Some boardwalks

Soda Springs

In the clouds

Windy, rainy and cold

Selfie at the summit

Some folks didn't dress for the weather

Note the poor chap behind me

Quick lunch by the Emerald Lakes

Blue Lake

Last stop on the way down

Thermal vents

Finally dried out

Done!