We woke early to prepare to walk the Tongariro Alpine Crossing with the Frank family. We were only part of the hundreds of people attempting the hike. This is obviously a very popular walk as it is considered the best day walk in NZ. The Department of Conservation had done a fantastic job with the tracks to avoid erosion from the multitude of hikers.
The first section was a gentle incline for about an hour, then we faced our first difficult section nicknamed the Devil's Staircase. HM fell behind quickly on the uphill. Luckily the next section across the South Crater was very flat for about a km before it slowly climbed again. It kept climbing and climbing - over rockier and more unstable terrain of scree until we reached the Red Crater Ridge, which is the top most point of our walk. Magnificent views but also quite scary as we were standing on a fairly narrow ridge and the wind was quite cold and strong.
Coming down on the other side was tricky as it was very steep and covered with loose scree. We kept sliding and skidding, but the kids loved it. MK ran most of the way down. The view on this side was of the Emerald and Blue Lakes with their magnificent bright colours. We finally stopped at our halfway point at the more sheltered Blue Lake to have lunch.
The home stretch was easier, being downhill, but we had to descent about 1100 m, and that took 10 km to do so at a gentle gradient. We were pretty exhausted by the end but also exhilarated as we had completed the walk in less than 7 hours! The fit ones could probably have completed it in a lot less time ........
MK: Really enjoyed skidding down from the top of the Red Crater.
MJ: Being told off for taking a short cut across the winding paths.
MH: Sliding down from the top of Red Crater.
Logbook:
06:00 (754 km) Cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast. However, the toast got burnt and we spent some time clearing the air and stopping the smoke alarm.
07:10 (754 km) Left Turangi Bridge Motel to go to Tongariro National Park.
07:40 (779 km) Ketetahi car park. This is the end point of the walk. Caught shuttle bus to the starting point of the walk, Mangetepopo car park
08:20 (779 km) Start Tongariro Alpine Crossing walk.
 |
| At the start - all fresh |
Mangatepopo to Soda Springs (5km)
Nice stroll to start the day, gentle incline
Soda Springs to South Crater (nicknamed Devil's Staircase)
This is definitely hard work.
 |
| Top of Devil's Stairs |
South Crater to base of Red Crater Ridge
Flat and then Puff! Puff! Hard work.
Red Crater Ridge
Highest point of the walk (1886m) - very windy and expose, walking on loose scree on narrow ridge, very scary. But wow! An amazing view, incredible what nature can do to create such a landscape at the Red Crater.
 |
| At the highest point of the walk - rim of Red Crater |
Red Crater Summit to Emerald Lakes:
Really exciting, dangerous sliding down scree (loose gravel). Fantastic view of the Emerald Lakes.
 |
| Emerald and Blue Lakes |
Emerald Lakes to Blue Lake:
Easy walk across flat ground. There was some climb to get up to the Blue Lake and to hide from the wind.
Blue Lake to Ketetahi Hut (4km)
Long winding walk.
 |
| 10 kms of downhill |
Keretahi Hut to Ketetahi Car Park (6km)
Really long walk. Luckily some shade from trees after being totally out in the open
 |
| All done! A huge relief and achievement |
15:11 (779 km) End Tongariro Alpine Crossing walk. According to a mobile app, we walked 20.05 km in 6:51:52 hours.
16:00 (803 km) Turangi Bridge Motel. Unpack and clean up. Kids still full of energy.
19:00 (803 km) Dinner of takeaway pizza and spaghetti.