Tongariro Northern Circuit/Around the Mountain
Trip Start
Jan 11, 2008
1
3
16
Trip End
Feb 22, 2008
Loading Map
Whakapapa Village,
New Zealand
Sunday, January 13, 2008
January 14, up at 5am, watched a nice sunset as we packed up. Morning was cool but beautiful temperature for hiking. We left the hut area at 6:30am and could see dayhikers already, only out to hike Tongariro Crossing, had been dropped off at a parking lot 30min from the hut.
01) Climbing up Devil's Staircase at 6am!
We hiked over lava flows from Ngaurohoe, pass Soda Springs, up Devil's Staircase, and to the base of Mt. Ngaurohoe by 8am. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ngauruhoe
We dropped out packs, took our gortex jackets and some big drinks of water, and started up the scree to ascend Ngaurohoe. The going was a bit slow up the scree but the views at the top were spectacular, the snow in the cone of Ngaurohoe, the venting areas of sulfur gas, the panoramic views south over Tama lakes and Mt. Raupehu and the views north over Blue Lake and Red Crater. Quick scree run down and back on the track after our 2 hr sidetrip, many dayhikers now. Up climb a bit, then dropped our packs again to run up Mt. Tongariro, more great views but smaller climb, only took 40min or so. Up the lava flows to see Red Crater and down to Emerald Lakes, all amazing and oh so gorgeous in the blue blue sky. Took one more side trip to view Blue Lake, left our packs again and ran past the dayhikers to run up another hill. Blue Lake was more impressive from far away, so we ran back only to discover that STANWEE WAS MISSING! I had him in my pocket for the small hikes we did without our packs! Theo ran back across the Centre Crater as I was about to cry (memories of losing the first Stanwee at Torres) but thankfully Theo found Stanwee within 200m after heading back. Whew!
Hot day but we carried on with our packs to Oturere Hut, through jagged lava forms.
02) Scree climbing!
We were the first people at the hut, thinking that we would again be the only ones camping. But within 1 hr about 15 people or more descended on the hut, so we quickly got a spot along a cliff edge that was shelter with a view of the waterfall. Nice bath on top of the falls, hung out for the afternoon in the shade before dinner and sleep by 9pm again.January 15th, up to a gorgeous sunset!! Helps to still be on Calgary time so getting up at 5-5:30am is easy! Track undulated over streams and gravel pits, with pumice stones everywhere! Got to Waihohonu Hut at 9am, still people getting up at hut. Quick snack and topped up water, on the trail again! Next section described as the only desert landscape in the North Island. And it certainly was! Some sections were all sand/lava rock, felt just like walking on a beach, hard going in the heat! Huge plains of wind sculptured volcanic rock and dunes. Went to peek at Ohinepango Springs, cold stream from volcanic rock, but didn't take a dip. The trail kept going through desert landscape, and we died in the heat, with no where to hide in the shade as no trees along this track! Crossed a river valley, where a lahar flow comes through (flow of mud from the volcanoe with eruptions). There were warnings that this was a "Lahar danger area" so we crossed the suspension bridge quickly and climbed up the other side. By the time we got to Rangipo Hut we had been hiking for about 7.5 hrs, so we were dead tired and burnt and a bit dry. Amazingly we had not seen a single soul for the last 5.5 hrs.
02a) Looking northward to Blue Lake
Deanna the hut warden invited us to stay in the hut as there were no good tenting spots (rock rock rock) and told us that there was no nearby streams to wash up in. So after a sponge bath in the sink with rain water, we made some soup and rehydrated. We were the only ones in the hut until a couple in their 60s came by, Helen and Peter, they were also hiking like crazy people and had been hiking for 9hrs from Whakapapa across the middle of the two volacanoes (we had not gone that route). Nice to be in the hut and not in the blowing sand for the night, view of Kaimanawa Mountains to the east. Good dinner and conversation with the Kiwi couple, who told us about a nice crosscountry route that we could do to remove a road section on the Around the Mountain track.January 16, up at 5am again to another nice sunset. Weather was to be hot again today so we got hiking after 6am. Plan was to hike to Blyth Hut, which was a bit off the Around the Mountain track but was supposed to be quite beautiful with views of Mt. Ruapehu. Sun was blazing to our left by 7am, full sunscreen and hats on by then! Almost immediately came up to Waihianoa Gorge, a HUGE gorge! Took us 1.5 hrs to climb down and then back up, this was a gorge from a previous lahar flow many many years ago! Finally into beech forest, SHADE! It was so nice to walk in the trees for a while! We saw a guy hiking towards us, wearing a towel draped over his head and shoulders for shade, quite the sight but keeping cool is essential in this heat! We arrived at Mangaehuehu Hut at 10am, and made hummus and stocked up on water.
03) Crater rim...
No one was at the hut, although a Dutch couple and a single guy had stayed there the night before (guy in towel).Continued hiking along alpine tussock and mountain beech, hiking was so much easier in the shade! Arrived at the junction to Blyth Hut around 12pm and ran down the trail without our packs to check out Waitonga Falls. It was so dry in the area that when we got to the falls we were a bit disappointed. Although the falls were very high, there was only a trickle coming down! Ran back to our packs and a 30min climb uphill to scenic Blyth Hut, nice views around. Called our hotel (always had cellphone reception on the hike and booked our hotel for a day earlier). Washed up and ate a couscous meal (we had food for 5 nights but it was becoming obvious we would be hiking off a day early we could eat more!). No good tenting areas so we decided to stay in the hut again. Lounged around a wrote in our journal, read a bit, Kiwi couple arrived just after 3pm and we hung out and conversed over dinner again. Turns out they had a daughter who was a chemical engineer who lived in Calgary for a while and was now living in Edmonton! In bed early again, knowing that we had around a 9hr hiking day tomorrow to get ourselves back to Whakapapa Village, and a unknown shortcut above Blyth Hut.
January 17, up at you guessed it, 5am! On the trail at 5:45am, headed up north above Blyth Hut and then crossed over a river near a washed out section. Hiked in a direction 35degrees west of north (as per Peter's advice) over a few rivers and across alpine tussock until we could see a road and the Massey University Hut.
03a) All three of us in the wind...
This was not a trail but cut off almost 2 hrs of walking along the road that the Around the Mountain track had on it. We did have to walk on the road for about 400m before the track started again, but we didn't see a car at 7am on the road! We were hiking with Mt. Ruapehu to our right, and the glare of the sun off the snowy peak was blinding! The trail started to descend down to the next hut, and went along a river and a waterfall. We passed a hut warden just before 8am, who didn't believe that we hiked from Blyth Hut already (he didn't know about the short cut) and got to the next hut just after 8am. The trail sharply climbed up again, and passed Surprise Lake and continued to undulate up and down, over and over and over, until we could see a couple ahead in the distance. The Dutch couple! Someone to chase! We did pass them within an hour, they had smaller packs so it made us feel strong to pass them (because by now we were feeling weak!). We stopped here and there for snacks, but were intent on getting back to Whakapapa be early afternoon. We had an option to hike along the road to make the end of the hike about 1.5 hrs shorter, but we opted for the more scenic trail through the forest (standard Around the Mountain track) and arrived at the end of the trail just before 3pm. Whew! Theo's GPS said we had covered almost 100km in the last 4.5 days, and we were a bit beat but no injuries!After icecream and stopping off at the DOC to tell of our grand tramping tales and to buy a Backcountry year pass (to pay for all of our tenting and hutting fees for the remainder of our hiking in NZ) we headed to our hotel (Skotel), just 5 min walk from the DOC and where we started our hike. Showers, laundry at hotel, beer and great food at the hotel restaurant, we passed out with full bellies in a nice soft bed! Plan was to climb Mt. Ruapehu tomorrow as long as the weather held out!
