On the 5th day of our trip in New Zealand, we planned to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which is regarded as one of the world's best day hikes and also puts the hiker at the base of Mt. Ngauruhoe, also known as Mt Doom! This was the primary reason we traveled to New Zealand and I was very excited.
During this portion of our trip, we stayed in Rotorua to be closer to the trailhead for this hike. Even with that, we were still a two hour drive from the parking lot but I packed all of our food, water, and electrolyte packets the night before. This hike is a through trail so Nina got us shuttle tickets so that we would park at the end, then catch a shuttle to the beginning. The shuttle tickets sell out weeks in advance so we were fortunate to get the 8:30 time slot. After the long drive, we arrived around 8:15 and caught the shuttle to the start. Very excited!
Right from the start, the trail was very clearly marked and easy to follow. Everyone was going the same direction so you couldn't get lost. What struck me the most about this trail is the people we were hiking were all serious hikers and traveled from all over the world to do this hike. We did too! The hike starts off with a slow gradual incline across some plains - I named these the Plains of Mordor. Just passed the plains were our first view of Mt Doom! It felt very surreal. Good thing I brought my own Ring of Power!
Throughout the ascent, we noticed not only how well the trails were maintained, but also, how well everything was labeled. This is one of the signs that they had throughout the trail to show how far along you were, and how much further is needed to go. They also posted stats of historically where during the hike was the highest number of rescues needed. Without any access to additional food or water during the adventure, this was a stark reminder of how big of a day this was going to be! At this point, the gradual climb turned into a less-gradual, more steeper climb. After all, the trail is called an 'Alpine Crossing' for a reason, so I assumed there was a mountain for us to cross. Let us begin!
When we thought was near the end of the climb, offered us the closest spot to Mt Doom that we would have. It was cool to be that close for where the movie was filmed. Viggo Mortensen, the actor who played Aragorn, chose to walk to the sets, sometimes for days at a time, in his attire and sword so that his character would look traveled. Having now traveled the same steps, respect for him for choosing to get his steps in rather than take the helicopter like the other actors. We stopped here to take in the views, have a quick snack, hit the bathroom (they had drop toilets every 3-4 miles) before continuing. Once we arrived here, we realized it was a false summit and the real climb had yet to begin.
As we continued, we crossed a short plain and noticed how windy it was becoming. This was a concern because we (I) was already pretty sunburnt at this time and now we were adding wind burnt to that too. No bueno. As we pressed on, we came to the base of the actual climb up a long but steep ridge towards the no-kidding summit. This was a little morale crushing but we regrouped, rallied, and made the decision to push on hoping it would all be downhill once we passed this last peak!
As we climbed towards the summit, we encountered some crazy winds. We didn't have an exact reading but I'd guess 60 MPH. It was enough for where you had to squat slightly moving forward otherwise you'd be blown over. I could Nina wasn't having at this point but she was a good sport and kept moving. Our rain jackets doubled as wind jackets which was helpful. We only stayed at the summit long enough to take a selfie, take a short video, and then push on ahead!
As Isaac Newton likes to say, 'what goes up, must come down' and down we had to go. This was definitely Nina's least favorite part as we descended on a steep ridgeline, in the wind, in the sun, across some very slipper scree rock. Understandably so, she slowed down considerably during this section, which caused us to consume more water than planned. This had later ramifications when we ran out of water so we couldn't eat any of our snacks which meant we were running on empty and were getting very sore with each step. I broke 5L for me and another 3L for Nina but it turned out to not be enough. Again, I didn't consider the slow down, nor the high winds nor the intense sun.
After the long descent, we stopped to transition from volcano terrain, to green emerald pools, and more.
As we came down the backside, we had to put a few miles down directly in sunlight where my sun burn got worse and worse. Finally, we entered the forest before the end. We were pretty sore, out of water, and a lot tired at this point but only had a few more miles to go! Again, the trails were well maintained and the Park Service had put in a bunch of stairs throughout to stop erosion. This was great but made for tough steps as our knees were pretty sore.
Once we were finally past the forest, it was another 3/4 mile to where the car was parked and we were happy to attack the final stretch.
We were fortunate that there was a family selling drinks out of a trailer at the parking lot and they were closing up when we arrived. We happily overpaid for some waters and PowerAde's before getting in the car, swapping shoes to sandals, and headed to get some food.
Overall, we covered 13.10 miles over 13 hours and 5 minutes and climbed 5,302 feet. This was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime hike and we highly recommend it!
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