November 21, 2007 It was a very early morning for us again today, starting well before the sun came up. The shuttle picked us up from the hostel at 6:00 a.m. and drove us forty-five minutes to the trailhead for the famous Tongariro Crossing. We began hiking at 7:00 a.m., but it still wasn’t enough to beat the crowds. This is one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks,” which means the tracks are crowded and we still have to pay for staying at the huts on it, despite already paying for a year-long countrywide hut pass. Within an hour of hiking up a volcanic canyon we came to a very steep section that ascended about 1,000 feet up to a saddle between two mountains. The terrain is very different from everything we’ve seen so far, with black
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