The Tongariro Crossing 12 Mile Challenge

Monday, February 21, 2000:  The Tongariro Crossing 12 Mile Challenge

Our mutual friends highly recommended that we make the Tongariro Crossing.  They made the Crossing during their honeymoon.  So, are you ready to hike?  Ready as I’ll ever be.

7:30 am:  A shuttle from Alpine Scenic Tours picked us up from the lodge.

We were taken to the trailhead at Tongariro National Park.  Our driver instructed us to meet him on the other end of the trail in Ketetahi by 5:15 pm for our shuttle back to our lodge.  Simple.

As usual, I take the first few steps on the trail, thinking, “What did I get myself into?  Am I gonna make it?  No turning back, just go.  Okay, take a picture and keep walking.”

Along the trail, we reach a sign pointing the way to the summit of Mt. Ngauruhoe (2291 meters = 7,561.404 Feet).  The sign also reads “3 hr return”.  No time for a side trip.  We have a bus to catch.

At the top of a hill, the way down is a steep, narrow path of scree.  I take a few steps, sliding with each step.  I’m terrified of falling and injuring myself.  Doug sees the look on my face.  He takes my hand and in a happy tone says, “This is easy.  The best way to get down is FAST.  We’ll just skip.”  I give him the “Are you crazy?!” look.  Doug smiles and begins to skip.  I have to skip, because he is pulling me along as he skips.  My foot lands with a slide and I have to keep skipping to keep up with him.  Many long minutes later, we’re at the bottom of the hill looking up at what we’ve just descended.  Doug hands me a bottle of water and reminds me I’ve just accomplished another skill. Once more, he lives another day.

Almost at the half way point of the trek, as we approach the Emerald Lake, I can see a table of blue water, above the floor of the valley.

When we get to the Emerald Lake, I see there are many hikers resting on the edge of the lake with their feet soaking in the water.  We take our boots off and place our hot, tired feet in the glacier melted cold water.  What a surprising contrast.  It’s so cold; it stings, but then feels good.  We have a little bite to eat, drink some water and keep going down the trail.

As we approach the ¾ mark, we come to the Ketetahi Hot Springs.  There are huts off the trail.  I’d never been in a ski hut before.  There are rustic bunk beds and I see some backpackers resting in them.  We stop for another bite to eat and to rest.  We discuss stopping to soak in the hot springs, but it’s already about 2:30.  We’ve got 2-3 hours to catch our bus on the other side of the hill.  Can’t take the chance, we’re tired and walking slower at this point.

The rest of the trail is fairly straightforward hiking.  We come to the forest again.  Enjoying the cool, fresh air of the trees, I look at my watch.  4:30?!!!  We don’t know how much farther to the bus pick up, but we’re not gonna miss it.  So, we SPRINT.

In the clearing we see the bus, with its engine running and people looking out of the window.  Are we late?  Are we last?  Don’t care. The driver sees us running.  He’ll wait.  We bound into the bus, red-faced, sweaty and looking around for two seats together.  The other passengers look at us with that “What’s your hurry?” look.  We had 15 more minutes before departure.  The engine was on to run the air conditioning.

Two other couples arrived after us.  Whew, we weren’t last.

A silent ride back to our lodge.  Exhausted.  What a day.  What an accomplishment.  We’ve crossed the Tongariro Crossing.  Check.

Doug discovered the Lodge had its own hot tub.  So we substituted it for the hot springs we passed up.  Soaked the aches away.

We prepared dinner using our mini kitchen.  Dinner:  steaks, baked potatoes and plenty of wine.