Blog 9: Mt Doom (Schicksalsberg)

In the middle of the Tongariro National Park you can find Mt Ngauruhoe which is Mt Doom (Schicksalsberg) from Lord of the Rings. As fans of the Lord of the Rings we had to do the hike up to the cone of the volcano, called Tongariro alpine crossing. This hike has a length of 20 km and starts in an altitude of 760 m. The highest point, which is the Red Crater, is located in an altitude of 1886 m. 

For the hike we stood up at 6 in the morning, drove from our camping site to the end of the hiking track and took a shuttle to the starting point. During the first hours the track was steep and it was cloudy and rainy, so that we didn't see much from the area around. Also it was quite cold as though can imagine from our clothes on the pictures. Luckily the weather cleared up and we had a fantastic view from top of the volcano. It looks just as impressive as in the movie! However,  we had no ring with us to throw into the summit ... Also the Lord of the Rings location of Mordor, home of Saron, was shot on the location around. Nerd on!