Tuesday 29 January 2008

Mount Doom



We drove from Rotorua down to National Park, a tiny town named for the nearby Tongariro National Park. We stayed in a cute little lodge used for skiing accomodation in the winter. That night we saw a spectacular sunset over Mt. Ngauruhoe (2287m), otherwise known as Mount Doom in the Fellowship of the Ring Trilogy.

On Wednesday, we did the Tongariro Crossing, sometimes referred to as New Zealand's best one-day walk. The scenery was very unusual and the walk was tough. There was a couple in their 70's on the bus trip in and they amazed us by their ability to handle the trek. It was like the second and third day of the Inca Trail all wrapped into one day. There was a never-ending, steep uphill climb over rocks and boulders and then a scary descent that involved sliding down a steep, sandy hill. I actually had to dig the edges of my hiking boots into the sand to avoid sliding.

As if that was not enough, we decided to add on an extra hour and a half side trip up to the Tongariro summit. At one point we were walking along a sandy ledge on the side of the volcano. I decided not to look down in order to keep going. It was a bit scary! We made it, however, and had a picnic lunch on the top of the summit. It would have been perfect if it weren't for the pesky flies that somehow seemed to know there were people eating lunch way up on top of the barren volcano!

Highlights of the walk included all kinds of spectacular views of Mt. Doom, the huge crater bowl we walked through, the New Zealand army jogging past us as they trained, lunch and views from the Tongariro summit, the Red Crater and the Emerald Lakes. We had to pick up the pace a little in order to arrive back to the parking lot before 4pm. Otherwise, we would have had to spend the night in the park! I don't think the hobbits were acting when they looked exhausted as they made there way through Morder. We were exhausted, too!

1 comment:

Wanda said...

Breathtaking!!