I had spoken to several of my Aussie and Kiwi coworkers
and had asked their opinions on things to see and do while in New Zealand. They gave so many great suggestions my head
started to spin. But seeing as how I
really only had one full weekend to enjoy in New Zealand I decided that the one
activity that I just had to do was hiking. And if you know me then you know I’m not
going to settle for the shortest, easiest trail to hike. Oh, no.
I’m going to find the longest, most difficult trail. And since I was already in the Tongariro
National Park, that trail would be the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
Out of all the adventures/experiences I’ve had over the
past two months, hiking the TAC is by far my most favorite. Not including the ruck marches I went on back
during my Army days, this was the longest hike I’ve ever taken and I enjoyed
every step of it. It was extremely
cloudy, windy and cold at the top but that just added to the excitement for
me.
Saturday night I made a reservation online for a shuttle
to pick me up at the end of the trail the next day and take me back to my car
at the beginning of the trail. Within a
couple of minutes of making the reservation, the shuttle company called me and
told me they weren’t going to be operating on Sunday because it was going to be
too cold and the winds at the top of the Crossing were forecasted to be 70kmh
(about 45mph). The lady told me she
would refund my credit card and send me an email confirmation of the
refund. I also spoke with the hotel
concierge and he told me the same thing.
Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed when I went
to bed Saturday night and I really had no idea what I was going to do with my
Sunday. I kept thinking to myself “Is
45mph winds really that bad? Am I going
to let a little wind keep me from experiencing this hike?” I also thought “I don’t want to be one of
those idiots you hear about in the news that ignored all the warning signs and
still embarked on their journey only to find themselves stuck out in the middle
of the Mojave half-dead.” So I prayed about
it and decided I would start the hike and go as far as I could until the
weather became too much to handle and then I would turn back.
By 7am Sunday I still had not received an email from the
shuttle service confirming my money had been refunded so I emailed them and
asked if they were still operating that day.
They replied and said yes, they were operating. So at 9:30 Sunday morning I took off down the
trail and I never looked back!
The Tongariro Alpine
Crossing is 19.4 kilometers long (12.1 miles) and its highest point is 1,886
meters (6,188 ft). It took me about 6.5
hours to complete the trek. The terrain
at the start was like Middle Earth from the Lord of the Rings movies and the
weather was overcast, gray and a little cold, maybe around 50 degrees. The closer I got to the top it only got
colder and windier. I was basically
walking in a cloud on the way up and the visibility at the top was only about
30 yards. But once I crossed the
Tongariro saddle and started my descent the clouds broke up, the sun started to
shine and the temperature began to warm.
The descent took about 2 hours and the trail basically snakes
back-and-forth along the face of the volcano.
The terrain on this side was nothing like Middle Earth. It was very green and lush and provided a
stunning panoramic view of Lake Rotoira, Mount Pihange and Lake Taupo.
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