Tongariro Crossing

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The Tongariro Crossing is a 19 km hike over Mt Tongariro. It is reported to be one of the best 1 day hikes in the world - although I haven't done hikes in too many places, I would bet that it is up there - I loved it. I'm staying in Taupo which is about an hours drive from the start of the track. It was pretty misty and cold when we started out on the track, once we climbed a bit and the sun got higher it burned the mist off pretty quick and we were walking above the cloud level. mt Tongariro is a volcanic moutain that blew its top off a long time ago, leaving a huge crater at the top, right beside it is Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom) which has the typical cone shape of a volcano. You do most of the climbing in the first few hours (up the devils staircase), and finally up a fairly narrow loose track to the lip of the crater. Really amazing views from up here. On the crater there is almost a rainbow of colours from all the minerals and such that have come out, and there are streams of volcanic rock down the sides of the moutain. Getting down from the top is pretty fun, lots of loose dirt and gravel down a steep pathway - each step takes you a meter or so before your feet dig in to take another step. Once you are off the main part of the mountain, there is about a 3 hour hike to go down the valley and through the bush to get to the car park for pick up.
Fantastic hike, not sure if it would be as much fun if there was a lot of wind or rain - but on a clear day it was perfect !!

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