The big hike on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was upon us! We woke up at 6 AM to get layered up for the 30 degree projected weather. Since we were hiking in May on the bring of winter, the weather was supposed to range from 30 degrees at the top of the hike to 50 in other areas, so I wore 3 top layers and 2 pairs of leggings just in case I needed to take things on and off. I probably didn’t need both leggings but I am glad I had all the other layers!
As the Tongariro Suites had our breakfast already set up in the room, we quickly carbo-loaded and were off on our drive to National Park town. We parked out front of a small lodge and were ready for our shuttle pickup. Since it is not a circular trek, you have to get a shuttle to drop you off at the start of the hike and then pick you up at the end. The 20 minute shuttle ride to the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was beautiful as the sun rose over the mountains. We were so excited to get hiking!
The start of the hike was relatively flat, along a wooden walkway through some bush. It was really stunning and the sun was giving us the heat we needed to stay warm. My layers were steadily coming off as we started to go up!
The trail is about 19.4 kilometers (12 miles), so we decided to have a snack and water break every 5K or so. There is no water on the trail at all, so we had to pack a gallon each and food for lunch / snacks. After our Quest Bars, water, and a loo break, we had to go up, up, and up! We were basically climbing the side of the mountain for a good 45 minutes with tons of stairs. My heart rate was definitely on the rise. We started in the valley in the picture below and that picture was taken about half-way up the first hill!
After the first hill, we got to a flat area with lots of shrubs. The sun finally hit the volcano side and the colors were beautiful!
Unfortunately for us, the flat bit ended and we started out final assent to the highest part of our hike. At one point, it was so steep that there was a chain rope to help us get up! Ryan’s legs started cramping pretty badly so we were slow going to the top, but it was OK because I got more time to take in the view. You can see the flat trail we walked on below (left picture) and then we hiked up the steep slope on the right all the way to the top!
Huffing and puffing, we made it to the top / mid-way point in the hike and the view was so worth it!
Not only that, but we finally made it to the famous volcanic lakes on the other side! The natural blue color in the lakes was insane!
To get to the lakes, we had to go down a very steep section of the mountain with lots of gravel. We basically had to do the electric slide down and it reminded me of the decent from the volcano I hiked in Guatemala! See the mini-people on the trail in the picture below for scale! You can’t even see those at the top!
We spent some time by the lakes before continuing on our hike and finding a good spot for lunch by the biggest lake, Crater Lake. I made some excellent PB&J sandwiches to fuel us through the day and we were pretty peckish by the time we got to eat.
After lunch, it was time for the 3 hour hike down. It started with 1.5 hour zig-zag path down that had an amazing view of lakes and a steamy part of the mountain. Ryan’s legs were still cramping like crazy so we were chugging water as much as possible to help him feel better. At this point, he had no choice but to keep going down! Eventually, we got low enough to enter the jungle and it was another 45 minutes of jungle hiking to the end of the track. 6.5 hours and 35K steps later, we did it!
We relaxed and waited about 45 minutes for our shuttle back to the mountain. We were pretty dead but felt very accomplished! The shuttle back went quickly and we hopped in the car to get back to our hotel.
A hot shower was the most amazing feeling on our aching bodies and we were starving! We decided to try out The Station restaurant in National Park Village. The place was an old train station converted into a eatery. Unfortunately, there was a management shift so the once delicious restaurant that our hotel recommended wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. They did not have their liquor license yet so we were bummed we couldn’t have celebratory wine. The best thing we had was the toasted bread and dukkah. My crispy chicken was really dry and the risotto had large clumps of cheese which was not super appetizing.
We were exhausted so, after dinner, we drove back to the hotel, opened a bottle of wine, and watched shooting stars on our balcony until it was time for bed.
The Impatient Traveler 
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