We were originally scheduled to this hike the day previous, but snow and cold made the passing impossible, so we had to reschedule to today.
Our day began with a 5am wakeup, which didn’t prove to be a problem thanks to the little bit of jet lag. Not lag really, just a shift in our time. We caught the bus from our wee backpacker cabin to the start of the Crossing and were on the trail by 6am. The clouds hung low over the mountain and we were worried if it was going to clear up to give us a good view once we climbed the formidable “Mt. Doom”. The first 1.5 hours was fine. Mostly flat, slightly uphill through some Scottish looking heath. Then the steps up the back side of the mountains began. And we climbed. Until we reached the base of Narihou. Some intrepid souls tried to to make it up, but given the snow last night and the STEEP grade, it looked like a terrible proposition. We carried on nearly on our hands and knees up to the summit of the Red Crater and were greeted by strong bitterly cold winds. We then caught glimpse of the Emerald Lakes and Blue Lake. We had lunch atop a sheltered vantage point that gave us lovely views minus the wind. The slide down the steep snow was hardly fun, until we got to see a recently erupted (and sill very much steaming) volcano in the Tongariro complex. (Aug 6, 2012.) (We came to find out after the fact that there’s a good chance another volcano in the Tongariro complex is going to blow shortly – the shuttle provider we went with was very reputable and very much concerned about safety, so I’d like to think they would NOT let anyone go if there was imminent threat. All the same, I’m glad to be off the mountain! There were signs all over warning us about not getting near the area and being in the “volcanic activity zone” – holy shit. I didn’t realize I was hiking a volcano that was quite THAT active =/ The trek down was longer than expected, and our bodies will be thanking us later for the abuse on our knees and toes, but the Crossing was definitely worth the physical exertion. Upon the bus ride home, we happened across the piece in our hiking phamplet about the owner of the lodge where we’re staying winning a mountain running championship – it took us 8 hours to make the crossing – it took him 1 hours, 25 minutes. Well, I guess we better try harder next time…
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