Tongariro Alpine Crossing Day 11 - A Walk To Remember!

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WE DID IT!

Today was the day...conquer the crossing...the Tongariro Alpine Crossing that is! This crossing is considered the best day hike in New Zealand. And it's not for the faint of heart! It's 19.4 km long along with reaching almost 1900 meters of altitude! (That translates to 12.055 miles and over 6200 feet!)

We started our day earlier to meet our ride to the mountain by 7:30am. We stopped in at the local cafe and ordered a wonderful breakfast of french toast, pancakes, bacon and grilled bananas. Heck, we felt that a breakfast like that was in order to get us through the day. The shuttle bus collected us at the i-site and we were off to the mountain. The shuttle bus dropped us off at the starting point and would pick us up at the finish to take us back to town. They took our names and cell number and assured us they wouldn't leave without us. They would also send out a rescue party should we not show up...nice insurance there even if it was a bit unnerving...

As it turns out, this is a very popular hike, hundreds of people walk it daily if the weather conditions allow it. Our day was beautiful! So off we went, all geared up, admiring the views as we went. (There was a bit of concern on my part that maybe we were bit over dressed. There were others just in their running shoes, shorts and tank tops. I had long johns, wind and water proof hiking pants, dryfit shirt under my other shirt, gloves, hat, jacket and hiking boots. Jeff was the same.) Are we all going on the same hike? As it turns out, we were. We'll come back to the choice of clothing in a bit.

Excitement running high, heart rates elevated, camera being pulled out every 10 steps we were making our way through the crossing. At about 3 kilometers in we were met with a large sign...WARNING - IF YOU ARE NOT FIT, ABLE OR SANE, RETURN TO GO! Okay, maybe the sign didn't say that exactly, but there was a warning there suggesting people turn around at this point if they didn't feel they were up to the challenge. Uhmmm...we're we up for it? Jeff just blew past the sign...hey, wait Jeff, shouldn't we evaluate it? Nope, we're going!

And up, up, up we went. To our left was Mt. Doom (Mt. Tongariro) to our right Mt. Ngauruhoe. Amazing? Uhhhhh...yeah! And we were seeing it in person! And...we kept climbing higher and higher. At this point the wind really started to pick up. We started to pass fellow trekkers who were pulling out more sensible clothing cause not only was it windy, it was cold. Who's looking like a boss now? Me! I had the all trekking gear going on and I was not cold! Oh, and Jeff too of course.

The Red Crater, Emerald Lakes and the Blue Lake...INCREDIBLE! Our eyes were having a difficult time processing all this beauty...hopefully the pictures can translate some of it.

Before we knew it, we had been on our trek for over 4 hours, we were now heading down the mountain. We needed to be at the end by 5:00pm. Alrighty then, let's go.

I won't go into in detail, but me and downhill trekking do not go well together. My knees don't like it and reiterated it to me for the last 4 kilometers. Not going to forget any time soon either. Apparently, scenic beauty comes with a price!

So, we were only 15 minutes late in getting to the car park. My bad! But, true to their word, they were waiting for us. Whew! Take us home my good man, take us home!

Our bus driver was very chatty and actually told us quite a bit about the area we were in and most importantly, where to get great take away. We followed his advice and went to the little shop next to the gas station to grab dinner to take home. Well, Jeff grabbed it because Kristine couldn't leave the car, knees still had a point to make. Back home we dug into the food and ate like there was no tomorrow. BEST FISH AND CHIPS EVER! And I'm not saying that cause I was hungry, it truly was. These little shops we are finding from word of mouth are amazing!

Feeling proud, accomplished and beyond sore, we ate and drank and went to bed! What a highlight of our vacation...complete the Tongariro Alpine Crossing...CHECK!

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Photos

At the beginning...
We really didn't know what to expect.