Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Tongariro Alpine Crossing is arguably the most beautiful day trek in the world. 20 kms and six hours of action packed with volcanic mountains, lava flows, craters, emerald lakes, thick forests, gushing streams et al as you tramp across the sparse hills and mountains. But before that a quick backdrop.

The Tongariro National Park is a famous tourist region, five hours from Auckland. Three stunning mountains - Mount Ruapehu (can be read on an earlier blog entry here), Mount Ngauruhoe (Nah-eu-ru-ho-eh), and Mount Tongariro are the three jewels of the region. Scientifically, all three are considered to be active volcanic mountains with Ruapehu’s last eruption in 1996 and a Lahar (an Indonesian word referring to a rapidly flowing mixture of rock debris and water from a volcano) in 2007. Tongariro National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (UWHS). One side tip: When visiting a country, pick all UWHS over other attractions. They usually don’t disappoint. Oh yes and the hike takes you through the area where they filmed Mordor in Lord of the Rings and alongside Mount Ngauruhoe which was used as Mount Doom in LOTR. 

We had planned for this trip for long. For most Indians, planning a trip means the following:

• What will we eat for breakfast?
• What will be our packed lunch? Will it be heavy to carry? (We don’t ask if it will be heavy for the stomach)
• Can we can try ___ for dinner?
• We should carry snacks such as…
• Oh yes, don’t forget to book the stay and shuttles.

Check, Check and Check.

We arrived a day prior to our trek to our AirBNB simple house in Turangi overseeing a lovely stream and sunset. Nitish made ginger tea on arrival as we unpacked in three separate rooms. We promised to (and did) drink less and settled early for the eventful day.

Everyone was up early doing their respective chores with Manuj boiling eggs, Nitish heating the parathas from Shubh (a popular eatery in Auckland) and I serving the hearty breakfast.

Since it is not a loop trail, we had to start on one side of the mountain and end on the other. We used Bookme for shuttles that picked us up from Ketetahi (end point) and dropped us at the starting point Mangatepopo. This way, even if we were slow there was no pressure to end the trek soon for a waiting bus as we had our own return transport sorted. We met a youngster in the shuttle who had a tiny bag and who intended to complete the trek within 5 hours. We were uncertain and nervous about our ability to finish it without incident.

The first five kms of the trek were relatively flat till we reached the Mangatepopo huts with a sign that warned us that we could still return as it would only get tougher from there on. But the soldiers marched forward to their first steep climb till they reached Soda Springs. No there are no soda or Maggi stalls unlike in Himachal or Uttaranchal. A few more steep climbs and we came to a junction with Ngauruhoe Summit Track. If your name was Frodo Baggins and you had a ring to destroy in Mount Doom, this would be the trail to take. Maybe next time if all goes well as this was a 3 hour detour. A few hundred steps and we were at the South Crater which is flat a large  like few football fields. 

We enjoyed the flats but it didn’t last forever as it took us to the entry of Devil’s staircase, the steepest climb. Panting with slow steady steps all of us reached the summit rather well. On the top we were welcomed to the spectacular 360 degree views of the Tongariro Park and the lovely Red Crater. At this point I felt as if I were in Mars. With photos in this pose and that direction, we were finally ready to descend.  

But just then when we started we saw the celestial emerald lakes and the blue lake.   The landscape couldn’t get any more beautiful. Yes, but steam rising from fumaroles nearby reminded us that we are in active volcanic area. 

Reaching the lakes which were real emerald colour (because of high concentration of minerals) glistening in the sun, we had our lunch which consisted of guacamole sandwich, eggs and Whitakers Cocoa Fruit n Nut chocolate as a dessert. We were half way through the hike. At this point Nitish took off his pull over and wore a thirst so that the next set of pictures have a new set of clothing on the young man. 

The descent started with Blue lake, sacred to Maoris, as the first photo op. As we move forward we saw plumes of steam escape from Te Maari Crater, which erupted in 2012. On the other side of the never-ending zig zag concrete paths we saw the Lake Rotoaira and beyond that the grand Lake Taupo cradled by green mountains. I thanked the good weather again. The views were incredible and the walk seemed long but easy.   

In the last few kms, the track dropped into the trees and provided a shaded woodland walk passing through a dense forest. The final patch ran through Lahar hazard zone where prominent boards advised trekkers to turn back if they heard noise coming from upstream.

At the finish we had Manuj waiting. He had finished early and had brought the car which was parked a km away to the finish point as parking here was annoyingly limited to 4 hours. Happy, we headed home looking forward to Nitish’s tea which he made sulkily. Evening was happy with rounds of whiskeys and beers over music and conversations.

The hike was great because every few kilometres, the landscape changed completely, offering something new and amazing to see. In retrospect I found it to be akin to a Subhash Ghai film, full of entertainment, all the way.

If you are in decent shape and if its summer and good weather, you will be able to do it in 6 hours or less. If, however its winter, there could be more than a foot of snow and you will do good to have a guide and of course proper gear.