The big hike

Mangatepopo to Soda Springs

The Tongariro Crossing hike is a one-way hike, meaning that one doesn’t return to the starting point.  For us, it was best to be picked up and returned to the hotel by shuttle and Swee had opted for the 0715 pickup.

The bus got us to the starting point at Mangatepopo Carpark (1120 m) where we commenced our hike at 0800.  This was an easy walk along dirt tracks with slight ascent, followed by a board walk across the alpine tussock.

We made good time to the turn-off for Soda Springs, getting there at 0920, about 10 mins earlier than the official estimate.  The springs itself didn’t look that scenic so I didn’t go right up to it.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Soda Springs to South Crater

From here on, the route through the rocky ground, perhaps of volcanic rock and rubble, that had been partially colonised by alpine vegetation.  It included some ascending paths and the Devil’s Staircase.  The stairs proved slightly challenging to one person in our group.  While I continued at my own pace with their kids, we kept an eye to ensure that they were within sight from time-to-time.

We eventually reached a flat area which was our rest stop at South Crater, around 1130.  This was about an hour later than what the estimated time for average hikers.  We took our lunch break here while waiting for the rest of our party to catch up.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

South Crater to Red Crater

It was an easy but exposed on the flat that made up South Crater towards the saddle.  At first, I thought that we would walk up to the saddle and then get across to the other side.  Then I realised that there were people on the high ridge to the left, indicating that we would walk up to the saddle and then continue up the ride.  My heart sank.

As I walked up the saddle and the ridge, I kept looking back down to see how far we had come.

It was very exposed and reapplied my sunblock while waiting for the rest of our party.  I finished the remainder of my lunch here too, hoping it would lighten the load in my backpack.  But it is my precious water supply that’s heavy, not a few sandwiches.

I got to the top of the ridge around 1300, not far from the Red Crater and waited for the others in the group.  I was probably about 1h30 behind the average timing already.

When Uncle S eventually caught up, I realised that he had been slowed down with debilitating cramps in his quads.  The last little bit had been agony and we hoped that the downhill portion would use different muscles and provide him some relief.

In the absence of electrolyte drinks, I offered Uncle S some medication that may help with the muscle contractions.  I then continued to Red Crater, the highest point of the hike at 1886 m and waited for everyone before embarking on the descent.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Red Crater to Emerald Lakes

The downhill route from Red Crater to Emerald Lake was the bit I had dreaded the most and it was every bit as bad as I had expected.  It was a steep slope with loose scoria and I took out one pole to help with the descent and then decided on using both poles.

The technique that worked best for me was walking down sideways, leaning my weight uphill.  It was slow.  We were relieved to get down to the bottom of the slope with no one slipping or getting injured.

All of us had lost interest in the day by now and had to make an effort to take photos of the Emerald Lakes which are meant to be a highlight of the hike.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Emerald Lakes to Blue Lake

From below the Emerald Lakes, the route continued on another flat crater.  At the end of the flat, there was one last uphill climb to get to the Blue Lake.

As we were past the most dangerous part of the hike, I walked at my own pace without waiting for the others.  I kept an eye to ensure that Uncle S’s son was kinda in sight behind me, and he did likewise with his members of the family.

The route went along the edge of the Blue Lake before ending up in alpine vegetation going downhill.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Downhill zigzag

It was around 1545 when I started going downhill through the alpine tussock on the zigzag.  This took about an hour and I was really over it.

After the highlight of the hike, it seemed cruel to endure such mundane landscape just to get to the end.  Perhaps, if I had been still fresh, I would have appreciated the view of Lake Rotoaira below and Lake Taupo in the distance.

With patchy phone signal, I managed to ring the shuttle company to advise that my ETA at the pick-up point would be around 1815, much later than the last shuttle of 1730.  I added that the rest of my party could be another 20 mins behind me.

I had been warned of the NZD100 fee for a call-out but didn’t manage to clarify if this was per person or per shuttle.  The call dropped and I continued my downhill walk.

 

Forested foothills

The alpine scenery quite suddenly turned into a thick native forest.  While it is beautiful, it was something I have been familiar with and when I realised that I had another 2 hours to go, I was beside myself.

It was a case of having to put one foot in front of the other and pushing myself till the end.  The silver lining was that the knee pain that I normally experience on downhill hikes didn’t occur today.

It was with great relief when I arrived at Ketetahi Carpark at 1830 after about 38784 steps.  That’s 10h30 after setting off on the 19.4 km hike!

It was a very slow pace compared to the average of 7h00, but I had spent probably a couple of hours waiting for others in the group.  The waiting had not been restful.  Rather than sitting, it was mainly standing around in the hot sun wearing my backpack, until I had remembered to remove it.

Text continues after this gallery.

 

 

Shuttle shock!

A shuttle driver had been organised for me.  Uncle S’s son had caught up with me and the driver said that we could go for free, as we had just made the secret cut-off of 1830.

The rest of the family would have to pay NZD100 per person.  We would have to pay as well if we chose to wait for them, making a shock total of NZD500 for our group!

With his advice, we decided to go back to our motel in the shuttle and look for Uncle S’s car keys and return to collect them in his BMW.  We managed to find the key and got back to Ketetahi Carpark around 2000 to find Uncle S and his wife.

Their daughter had gone with the cleaners to get phone signal in order to organise the late shuttle pick-up. Fortunately, we got news that she had received our messages about coming in the BMW and she went to the motel instead.

We got to the motel around 2100, making a very long day.  I finished the day with a peanut butter sandwich before retiring.

Conclusions

We had chosen a stunning day for the hike but the very exposed route meant that we were in scorching sun nearly the whole time.  I drank 3.75 litres of water during the whole hike and didn’t go to the toilet, but had sweated it all out.

In less perfect weather, I’ve been told that it can get cold, windy and even snow in summer.  I don’t know what’s worse.

We all thought that the reward to effort ratio of the hike was low, perhaps due to not having any snow on the mountains.  It didn’t help that I had been to Switzerland the Nepal in the last couple of years.

It seems to be a “must do” for someone living in New Zealand.  Done it.  No regrets, wouldn’t rush back.

Note that my concluding comments must be viewed in the context of me not being an athletic outdoor person. I do these things once in a while (including five day Nepali hikes) to push my boundaries, remind myself where my boundaries are and remind myself I don’t really like the outdoors (just in case my preferences change).