In My Wildest Dreams

Recovery

Yes, I am still recovering after an exhausting but absolutely breathtaking weekend in Tongariro National Park. Went with two friends of mine, Kristin and Sarah. Sarah had never been backpacking before and don't think she quite realized what she was getting herself into. We left Friday afternoon and drove for about 5 hours until we reached National Park Village, where we stayed in the National Park Backpackers (aka hostel). We got up early on Saturday and caught a shuttle to the Tongariro Crossing trailhead near Whakapapa village. It was pretty cloudy and a bit cool and drizzly but as soon as we began hiking, no one noticed. It gets quite steamy with the weight of a big pack on your shoulders. Anyway, we hiked through gorgeous old volcanic rock, took a side trail to see a waterfall, and then, for awhile, hiked straight up until we reached the base of Mt. Ngauruhoge. It was all still pretty foggy, but quite eery looking and beautiful.

Tongariro National Park is in the Taupo Volcanic Zone and within the park are three very famous volcanoes--Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu, and Tongariro. Interestingly enough, these are all the volcanoes that were part of the Maori legend that I had read to my students earlier in the term. The legend is that these three volcanoes were once mountains and had grown up with Pihanga, another mountain. She is the only girl mountain, so the boys decide to fight over her and begin to spit fire, etc... One by one they defeat each other and retreat. I forget who finally wins. Anyway, that's the story in a nutshell. Never expected that I would be hiking through these volcanoes.

Okay, back to the hike. So, we looked at the sign for Ngauruhoe which read 3 hours return (meaning there and back) . It is sort of a side track that you can do off of the main one, Tongariro Crossing. Ngauruhoe is one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes, with 61 eruptions since the mid-1800s. How could we NOT hike it!!!!! We hesitated because it was difficult to see the trail with the fog so thick and low. We started off on it to see how far we could get and then decided that we better not take the risk. Kristin had forgotten to bring her compass, so we would pretty much be up S.C. without a paddle if the fog were to get any worse than it already was.

We continued to hike along the crossing, through a volcanic basin that looked a lot like Mars, started up the track toward Red Crater and then--suddenly and momentarily--the fog cleared. There it was--Mt. Ngauruhoe, right before our eyes with her bright red rim calling out to us... Well, at least it was calling out to me and Kristin. Sarah, smart girl, heard the hut where we would stay that night calling her name. But, Kristin and I looked at each other and instantly knew we had to hike it--a once in a lifetime opportunity. Problem is that we had already passed the trailhead, but looking at it we thought we could make it up the side that was now facing us, so we took off. The first part of the hike wasn't too bad. As we got up closer and closer to the top, it was all pumice and old lava bombs and hardened volcanic rubble. So, basically, you climb four steps up the extremely steep slope and then you slide two steps back. Took what seemed like FOREVER to finally get to the top. REMEMBER, we have our big backpacking packs on this whole time. We were afraid that if we dropped them off at the bottom of the volcano we might not be able to find them again. That meant extra work on the legs and glutes--and also gravity trying to pull you backwards cuz the bag is so damn heavy, or at least feels like it on such a steep slope. I literally thought my legs were going to give out on me.

At the top, we hiked along the ridge of the crater. Kristin plopped down on what seemed like an inviting rock but turned out to be right over a steam vent and she consequently burned her bum. Ouch! Well, we used the steam vents to warm our hands because it was really cold up at the top and the fog was now rolling in quite thick. We decided we had better make our descent, without much of a direly needed rest break, before we got stuck on top. We started down, sliding and falling much of the way. Both of us have all sorts of cuts from trying to break our falls on the sharp lava rocks. At one point, Kristin, who was a good bit ahead of me, fell pretty hard and just stayed there and pulled out a sandwich. )It's really hard to get up once you're down b/c of the pack.) In the midst of my incredible mental anguish and physical pain, I found it quite humorous and slid down to join her. We both just sat there munching, tears streaming down our faces from the cold wind, hands bleeding, etc...eating PB & J. Gotta admit that's pretty comical. Finally, there came an Irish guy trotting along with a GPS, so we walked along with him and made it down safely (although the two of us would have been fine, mind you--not trying to insinuate that we were saved by Prince Charming. Not too big to admit, though, that we were saved, possibly, by Prince GPS).

Anyway, at that time it was a BEAUTIFUL hike back on the Crossing. In the morning there had been heaps of other hikers because it is one of NZ's most popular tracks, but at this point, after Ngauruhoe, all the hikers had returned to town and we walked pretty much alone--just the 3 of us--over the ridge, along the Red Crater, down to the Emerald Lakes, and up through the alpine brush to our lovely little hut, where we stayed the night. All of New Zealand's tracks have this hut system where you buy a pass from the DOC and then you can stay in the huts. Many of them have heat, toilets, bunk beds, and cooking facilities. SWANK! You don't have to carry your tent. It's really nice. We met up with Sarah there, which was good cuz she made it over there alone--well, we left her with another group of hikers when we split off for Ngauruhoe. Anyway, we stayed in the bunks with a bunch of Germans, another American, and some French people. I had a bowl of hot noodles and a hot vanilla latte that I had packed. Yes! No more PB&J.

Then we got up in the morning and hiked out. On our way back up we stopped at Lake Taupo and ate Thai food. Made it back to Auckland by about 6;30 PM. Now I'm thinking that I want to hike the entire Kepler Track in the South Island during my spring break.... We shall see.

I am exhausted and have not had enough time to catch up on rest, so I will leave with that. I will write more on teaching/etc later.

Love,
ME

posted by Sara @ 7:30 PM