On the road to Mordor
Trip Start
Aug 17, 2003
1
55
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Trip End
Jun 04, 2004
Tongariro National Park, New Zealand
Friday, March 19, 2004
The day started with lots and lots of grey cloud, which was very disconcerting, but we were assured by the owner of the hostel that all that cloud would burn off and it would be a glorious day. I lost count of the number of times he asked me if I had sunscreen!!! And then it was off on a bus for a half hour drive to the start point.
From there we started on a fairly gentle incline, up the valley to the foot of Mount Ngauruhoe. ALthough for the first 45 minutes we had no idea it was there, as we couldn't see anything at all through the cloud. But suddenly it lifted, and there it was, this perfect cone shape of a volcano in front of us.
The terrain we were walking along at first was very cool as there was lots of heather and small scrubby plants - with the most amazing spiders web's, all dripping with dew and shining out as the sun caught them. It looked really incredible. As we rose higher, the scenery suddenly started to take on a much more volcanic look, with the scrub giving way to rocks and boulders. With the mist still lying across it, it really did look very creepy. Easy to imagine orcs hiding behind the boulders!
Up until that point it had all been quite gentle - a slow incline following the path of a little brook. But not for much longer. We'd hit the first climb. According to the leaflet this was supposed to take us 45 minutes, but as we stood at the bottom looking at it, it was pretty obvious it was going to take a fair amount more than that. As well as being pretty damn steep, the whole situation was most definitely not helped by having lots and lots of rocky boulders which needed clambering over. And as a result everyone was picking out what they thought was the best route - but generally meant lots of people weaving aimlessly around the mountain! Having walked up Mount Roy a couple of weeks ago I actually didn't find this climb as bad as I was expecting- I think the slow start to the walk had given my body a bit of a chance to get used to the idea, and so my heart was at least pumping and my lungs remembered what they were supposed to be doing!!!
Nonetheless, I was very very relieved to get to the top and have a bit of a chance for a rest. So Louise and I plonked ourselves down for a few minutes to get our breath back. The view was absolutely incredible - we were just under Mount Ngauruhoe, a perfect storybook cone shaped volcano, with amazing red and white mineral stains pouring out of the crater at the top. And off in the far distance, poking through the clouds, we could see the very top of Mount Taranaki, on the West coast of the North Island (Mount Fuji in the Last Samurai). It already felt like we were sitting on top of the world, and we still had another climb to go yet!
First was a gentle flat walk across a crater, a definite relief after the climb. Looking back across the crater towards the mountain, I was reminded of Dead Vlei in Namibia - I think because of the contrasts of colour and because of the mountain behind rising up out of something so flat.
All too soon the flat section came to an end, and then it was uphill again. No boulders this time luckily, but a lot of scree and gravel. And where there wasn't scree and gravel, there was mud (and ice in some places in the shade!!), so it was a pretty slippery scramble up. Again though, the climb was incredibly worthwhile. I was just totally mesmerised by the view when we got up there. We were looking down over the red crater, which as you would imagine was an amazing deep red colour. One side of the crater had a huge gash in it - you could almost imagine the gases exploding out of the volcano to cause it.
And further away, we could see for miles, over mountains and forests and out towards Lake Taupo shimmering in the distance. On the other side of the mountain we'd just climbed we could see what was in store for us for the rest of the walk - the shimmering Blue Lake, which looked as if gold dust had been sprinkled on top of it, and the incredible Emerald Lakes, water filled craters, which were the most amazing green colour. We were so lucky to have good weather.
After all that climbing (and knowing there was only one very small climb left to negotiate) we treated ourselves to lunch at that point, gazing out over the view, chatting with all the other people who a,lso decided it was time for a rest (being advertised as one of NZ's best day walks means this isn't one for those who like solitude!!) and contemplating what was coming next. As I mentioned, the climb was pretty gravelly and slippery. Down was pure scree... And from the way other people were getting down it, it looked very slippery!!! In the end I adopted a technique from the snow - a kind of controlled slip (I claim it was controlled anyway) which eventually got me down!!!
From there we started to make our way to the end of the track, which was basically downhill all the way (2.5 hours), through a wide variety of landscapes - rocky ground with long dry grasses which really scratched at the legs given the chance, scrubby areas similar to the beginning of the walk, and native forest. But after 1.5 hours, my knees had started to really complain about the treatment they were getting, and all of a sudden I wasn't paying much attention to the scenery any more - just gritting my teeth and hoping that the car park was just around the next corner!!
We eventually completed the walk in just under 7 hours, with a massive sense of achievement. It was possibly the most amazing scenery I've ever seen in my life, and I don't think I'll forget it for a long time. The pain in my knees will probably stay with me a while as well - definitely need to buy some Deep Heat before getting to Peru and tackling the Inca Trail!!
