Tongariro Alpine Crossing

I met Danny from England and Kai from Australia at a campsite in Taupo. They were camping next to me and told me that they wanted to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing the next day. The day hike in Tongariro National Park is considered one of the most beautiful day hikes in New Zealand, if not the world. Since Pascal and Cori wanted to do it later, I decided to join them.

We woke up early the next morning because we had over an hour of hiking ahead of us. When everything was packed and we were in the car, Danny noticed that his car key was missing. After a long and ultimately successful search, we were running quite late. When we arrived at the national park, there were signs advising against the hike that day. The wind speed was almost 80 km/h and it felt like -10 degrees Celsius at the highest point of the hike, the Red Crater. Since all shuttle buses were canceled for the day, we found a campground nearby and decided to try again the next day.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, a shuttle picked us up at the end point of the hike and took us to the starting point. We had 19.4 km ahead of us - which doesn't sound like much at first!

At first, the trail was relatively flat, between mountains shrouded in fog. After a while, it became steeper and steeper. The guys were fit and managed the hike easily. I, on the other hand, was panting, red-faced, sweating, and feeling like I was going to die. The 5 liters of water and mountains of food in my backpack didn't make it any easier... :-)

But the hardships of the ascent were worth it. It was simply mind-blowing and the most surreal landscape I've ever seen! We hiked through old volcanic craters and had a view of Mt. Tongariro as we made our way up to the Red Crater. At an altitude of almost 2,000 meters, it was quite cold, but the view was breathtaking! This is where the Mordor scenes for 'The Lord of the Rings' were filmed. And I was there!!! :-)

From the Red Crater, we slid across ash and scree to reach the Emerald Lakes. After the 9 km uphill, we had a 10.4 km downhill stretch in switchbacks. We were glad to have completed the difficult part, but the more than 10 km downhill was even worse! It seemed never-ending and eventually our feet rebelled.

After 7 hours, we did it! My absolute highlight so far!!!