Days 175-179, Epilogue 3: Tongariro

The trail sure didn't want to give up the last bit easily! We made it around the Northern Circuit in Tongariro National Park, but the weather did not cooperate.

The Northern Circuit is a "3-4 day" loop that circles around Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom), then crosses over a saddle and several craters between Ngauruhoe and Mt. Tongariro. It's an active volcanic area - the last eruption was in 2012! The majority of people just walk the Tongariro Crossing, the "finest day hike in the world", which hits all the most spectacular areas. We decided to do the whole circuit in 2 days, and went counter clockwise, which is the opposite direction that most people do it.

We ended up killing a day at the hostel, due to 100 km/h forecasted winds. A significant portion of the circuit is exposed, alpine terrain, so high winds can make it dangerous. The weather for the 2 days following that looked unpleasant, but workable - lots of rain, but less wind. We decided to go for it, and left on the morning of the 19th.

The first day was an easy trip in to Oturere Hut. The weather gods didn't drench us, but also kept the volcanos wrapped in clouds all day. The hut was supposed to be full - 26 people - but luckily the bad weather kept almost everyone away. We shared it with a Welsh couple who lived in Wellington, and a Scottish couple who lived in Auckland. It's a good thing - there were technically 26 beds in the hut, but only 2 small tables and one sink. 26 people trying to all make dinner at the same time in there would have been a circus.

A volcanic wasteland

Luckily there were very frequent markers, otherwise it would have been tough to follow the trail

Almost like walking on another planet

The wind & rain picked up overnight, and made us feel really bad for the handful of people that were camping outside the hut. The next morning was slightly better, but everything was still completely obscured by the clouds. We climbed up past Emerald Lakes, which were barely visible, to Red Crater. We couldn't see down into the crater at all, but the clouds below us did clear for just long enough for us to get a glimpse of the lakes from above - pretty awesome! 

Emerald Lakes, actually looking emerald for the briefest of moments

At the lakes, we had joined the Tongariro Crossing, but were walking in the opposite direction of all the day hikers. We started to feel like salmon swimming upstream. It was a bit satisfying to be cruising downhill past all the poor people huffing and puffing up to the crater though. The further we got from the top, the worse we felt for the handful of people who asked us, between heaving breaths, how far it was to the top.

The south crater, complete with huge line of people climbing out of it

This was the one area that was relatively free of clouds - spectacular!

We passed the turnoff to the side trail that climbs to the top of Mt. Doom with a sad sigh. We were basically inside a cloud, so the 500m climb was both dangerous and not worth it. It would have been our highest point on the trip (2200m), and we were a little bummed that the weather wasn't cooperating. We continued on, had a well timed lunch at the next hut during a downpour, then finished off the last couple of hours to arrive back in Whakapapa Village. We caught a ride back to the hostel, and had a tasty burger for dinner at a nearby bar. 

Despite the weather, we really enjoyed the circuit. The landscape was surreal - like walking on another planet. In some places, having the clouds all around us enhanced that feeling, so they weren't all bad. We also got a few brief views throughout the day when the clouds parted momentarily. Nothing like the spectacular panoramic views that you see in the guidebooks, but still pretty stunning.

At this point our walking in NZ was truly finished. We caught a bus back to Auckland the next day, and flew home the day after that. For once, our travel karma was in the positive, and our trip home went smoothly. 

Now we're back in the Boston area (living with Liz's mom in Newton for a few weeks), trying to fix our awful jetlag, and thinking about putting our lives back together. We'll start with simple things, like washing our gear, shaving off my scary hiker beard, and finding the charger for the laptop. Then we'll move on to fun things like catching up with all of our friends in the area and visiting my family in NJ. But it won't be long until we're doing real-life things again, such as, gasp, finding a job and going back to work! Ahhh!

Actually, in a way, I think we're both looking forward to getting back to jobs again. It will at least give us something to focus on, rather than kind of floating around like we've been doing ever since Stewart Island.

I plan on writing a couple of follow up posts here, but they will probably only be interesting to future TA hikers, so for most of you following along at home, this is the end! Thanks for reading, and thanks for letting me know you enjoyed reading! It was a lot of work to get the posts up from the trail, but knowing that people enjoyed following along made it completely worth it.

Happy trails!