Tongariro Crossing

Yes, finally! After continually checking the weather forecast for the past two weeks, we finally found an opening between the clouds, and yesterday we got up and walked the Tongariro Crossing. Many say it’s the best one-day hike in New Zealand, some even claim that it’s the best one-day hike in the world. Is it? We’re about to find out…

When we start our trek across the mountain, the sun is still hidden behind the Tongariro mountain range, and a chill wind blows across the plain. The road winds gently upwards for an hour or so until we come at the Devils’ Staircase. Here, we start our ascent. Even though it’s relatively a small one, only 300m, we have to pause several times on the way. It really is steep. It’s also because of the altitude: the staircase starts at 1400m: by no means very high, but it’s clear that the oxygen level is lower here.
At the top of the staircase lies the South Crater. We have to cross it before we start our second climb, to the Red Crater. At 1886m this is the highest point of the crossing. From the Red Crater you have an amazing view to all directions. To the west, Mt. Taranaki is clearly visible, even though it’s over 100km away. To the northeast you can see the three Emerald Lakes and the Blue Lake, and Mt. Ngauruhoe (a.k.a. Mt. Doom) takes up most of the southwest corner of your vision. From here, you have to rapidly descend through fine volcanic debris to the Emerald Lakes, about 250m lower.

Not long after the Emerald Lakes you’ll pass the blue lakes and go over a ridge, and this is about the end of the impressive stuff. It is, however, still a good three hours from that ridge to the end of the track. About 1/3 through the descent you’ll pas a hut, but don’t get too excited. This isn’t Switzerland, and a hut isn’t much more than four walls and a roof. So no coffee or hot chocolate with whipped cream, sorry. The remaining two hours really are a pain. The spectacular scenery is long gone and you just want to finish. Not to mention we didn’t want to wait an hour for the next bus so we had to jog down to catch the 3.15 one…

Let’s get back to the big question: is the Tongariro Crossing really that nice? Well, it’s nice. It’s definitely a great hike, and yes, it’s probably the best in New Zealand. But I daresay it’s not the best in the world. In more than one way, it’s very comparable to that certain hike from Italy to Switzerland. It starts sloping upwards very gently, then there’s a steep climb, then it goes mostly flat, and at the end there’s a long and rather boring descent. But I must say I prefer the Swiss version. No, it doesn’t have volcanoes or Emerald Lakes and there’s no steam rising up from the ground, but somehow, the fact that there’s not at any given time a trail of a few dozen other hikers behind you, like there is here, and that you can sit down at that hut and have a nice cappuccino and even a portion of kaiserschmarren just makes it that much more enjoyable. Again, I feel New Zealand is largely a victim of it’s own success.

Well, check out the gallery for more photo’s! It’s only a small preview of course, I don’t have the tools to stitch all those wonderful panoramic views together here, but it should still give you a nice impression of the first half of the crossing