Yesterday, Kara and I slew our white whale and, in the process, put the perfect cap on our six months of road-tripping together. We successfully-- dare I say, triumphantly!- completed the Tongariro Crossing! This tramp is known as one of the best day walks in the entire world, and it certainly lives up to the hype. It was one of the very first things Kara and I decided we wanted to do in New Zealand, but the weather was too snowy on the mountain when we came in November, and so we had to skip it in our bee-line to the South Island. We thought we might fly back during the summer to do it, but it proved both cost and time-prohibitive. So, in the end, we made it our goal to arrive back on the North Island early enough to completely it before it was completely covered in snow.
We looked at the forecast back in Picton, and realized that the 1st would be the best day by far. We decided to spend a few days in Wellington and Taupo enjoying ourselves, rather than heading straight up to Tongariro and just waiting there for the right weather. It was an excellent decision, as you can see form the previous entries!
We arrived in National Park on the afternoon of the 30th, and commenced taking it easy. We thought about renting coats from the hostel because the weather on Tongariro was supposed to be in the high 20s/low 30s, but the owner told us that our layers should be enough. So we relaxed, had an excellent steak dinner cooked by Jordan, and went to bed early!
Our bus left for the Crossing at 7:15am on Friday, which was sort of brutal. But the crossing takes seven and a half hours usually, and the weather was due to be better in the morning, so it made sense. We prepared the night before-- I had my long underwear, my yoga pants, two shirts, my fleece, my shell, my wind jacket, two pairs of gloves and my hat. Kara and Jordan were similarly layered! By the time we got off the bus onto the Mangatepopo Valley, we were really hot, so that was good.
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of the most popular tourist attractions in NZ. The season officially runs from October-April, so we were doing it on the first out of season day. We thought it might be a bit less crowded because of that--and it probably was--but it was a very crowded hike. Of course, our one nice day was bracketed by bad weather, so everyone may have been waiting just like we were.
The Crossing is 19.4 kilometers (about 12 miles), and it's broken up into sections. The first section is the Mangatepopo Valley, which offers an amazing view of Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka MOUNT DOOM!!) as you walk towards it, Mount Tongariro off to the left, and Mount Raupehu to the right in the distance.