I feel like this would be a good opportunity for that Boromir "One does not simply walk into Mordor" meme because seriously, one does NOT simply walk into Mordor. Did I stress that this was a long hike? THIS IS A LONG FUCKING HIKE. 19.4 KILOMETERS. 12 MILES. UP HILLS AND MOUNTAINS AND FREAKING VOLCANOES.
Now that my caps lock has properly intimidated you, let me reassure you by providing a full list of steps to follow in preparation for this grueling trek. 1) Buy water. Buy lots of water. Big water bottles. There are no water refill stations. You need water. And maybe some Powerade. 2) Food. You need lunch and snacks for energy. I recommend sandwiches, fruit, granola bars, nuts, etc. 3) A backpack. To carry the heavy bottles of water, your food, your extra layers, and everything else. Luckily for you this will get lighter as the day goes on, but I recommend also traveling with a significant other who you can charm into carrying the heavier stuff. 4) Toilet paper. There's a bathroom very near the start of the trail, and very near the end. There will be a good 5+ hour window with no toilets and nothing but large rocks in very open spaces to do your best to hide behind. You probably want a plastic bag to throw the toilet paper in. There are not trash cans and please don't leave garbage laying around. 5) A fully charged phone. You won't have much signal, but if you split from your group or need to get in touch with your shuttle at the end of the hike or end up in an emergency situation, you'll need to be able to reach someone. I ran into those first two problems on my hikes, but luckily no emergencies. 6) A camera! The scenery is like nothing else I've seen! 7) Layers. So many layers. You have no idea what the weather might be like. This is an alpine climate, and even if it's hot and sunny in Taupo, it may not be at the altitudes on the crossing. Let's talk more about that!
The first time I went, I made very poor clothing decisions. It was December, summertime, so I wore shorts, a tank top, socks and tennis shoes, a headband, and my very ragged black hoodie which at that point had actual holes in it. I was freezing.
The second time it was January, so a little bit hotter, but I wasn't going to fall for that trick again. I started with enough layers to cover every season. I once again wore shorts and a tank top, but this time I wore sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, and hoodie over them plus a hat and gloves, and I removed them as needed. I also had nice Sketchers this time, and they were a great improvement over my old tennies (more on that later).
So basically, you have to book a shuttle bus out of Taupo to head to the Tongariro Crossing. It leaves at 5:30 in the morning. Get a good night's sleep. You'll get a paper guide, and the driver gave us a run-down of what to expect as well as some warnings.
One of those warnings was NOT to attempt to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom) unless we felt very prepared and definitely not to try it if we struggled on the Devil's Staircase beforehand. Standing on top of Mt. Doom sounded like the coolest thing ever, but I also know my physical limitations, so I thought I'd wait and see when we came to it.
The landscape of the Tongariro Crossing is unbelievable. I'd never been in alpine territory like that before, and just the vastness and surreal quality of it all was incredible. It's so brown, rocky, and barren with mountains and volcanoes surrounding you.
The start of the walk is just flat. There's a raised path you follow for awhile with rocks and dull patches of grass on either side.
The first time I hiked, it was so foggy that I couldn't even see the mountains on either side of us. It wasn't until later on that I realized Mt. Doom had been looming right above us the entire time! The second time was a clear, sunny day, so you could see the scenery much better.
Not going to lie, by the time we reached the end of the flat first section, I figured we should be halfway done with the hike. HA. That was barely 1/8 of it!! I was already tired! I had no idea what I was in for. I checked the map as we stopped at the last bathroom for miles and noticed that the section we'd just done had been labeled an "easy track" and we were about to start the "difficult track", so I was not thrilled.
Just in case anyone was deluding themselves that it would not be so difficult, they named this section the Devil's Staircase. It was a bitch too. It's a steep climb up tiers cut into the hill, and I was out of breath after every 2-3 flights and had to stop to rest. We didn't reach the top until about 40 minutes later, and I had to stop to eat because I was lightheaded.
On my first hike, this is where we had to stop to decide our next move. We'd reached the turnoff for Mt. Ngauruhoe. While I'd been all about climbing Mt. Doom the day before, now that I was here and had struggled so much on the Devil's Staircase, I did not think I could handle what was the most difficult track of the entire crossing. Most people don't even make it to the top. I also double-checked the advice on the map, and it said not to even attempt it if there was wind or fog, both of which were out in full force this morning.
In the end, Anne-Marie wasn't much of a hiker and decided not to do it, Anthony decided to skip since it was too foggy to see much anyway, and I decided to head on with them since I didn't want to hold anyone back or change my mind halfway up. The other three decided to split from us and go for it. Georgie and Scott reached the top, but Chris had poor shoes and ended up having to turn back halfway and finish the whole crossing exhausted on his own. He said he slipped and fell about 13 times before he stopped counting. So, again, unless you have fantastic hiking shoes, are in great shape, and have perfect weather, I would not try it.
I had thought the Devil's Staircase was tough, but the worst was yet to come. The next challenge on the hike was the ridge. This part of the track was not labeled as "difficult", it was "dangerous". It's a narrow, steep incline full of loose rocks. As I said, I did not have good shoes on my first hike, and I was seriously struggling to keep my footing. There was a heavy wind and nothing on either side of the path to keep me from falling off the cliff. I basically climbed most of it on my hands and knees just to be safe.
It was much better the second time I did it since my sneakers were better. I was still cautious, but there wasn't much wind, and at no point did I actually feel like I was about to fall off at least.
At this point on my second hike with Lewis, we decided to stop and have lunch. There's a large rocky clearing before the next climb, and we found the perfect spot to eat. There was a large, two-seater flat rock with another large slanted rock right behind it. It formed the perfect rock recliner which blocked the wind, and we had a fantastic view of Mt. Doom just to our right. We leaned back, enjoyed the sun, and had crackers, cheese, and jam for lunch.
On my first hike, instead of stopping long here, we decided we had enough time to do one of the offshoot hikes. Since we'd skipped Mt. Ngauruhoe, we did Mt. Tongariro instead. It was an easier hike, but it was very slanted and again had plenty of loose rocks, so I had to move at a slow pace to keep from sliding. We made it the top, although it didn't feel much like climbing a mountain since it was all very gradual and straight. There were a bunch of huge boulders at the top, so I enjoyed scrambling around over those.
We all sat in a little enclosure sheltered by three rocks blocking the wind, and we had a nice view although it was foggy. The whole tangent hike took us about an hour to hour and a half round-trip.
Once we came back, we got our best view of the whole crossing. The fog finally cleared so we could finally see Mt. Doom for the first time. And it was huge. And awesome. I was shocked at how close we'd been to this massive mountain the entire time without even being able to see it. I was obviously already thinking of Mordor, but I'm serious when I say that it was as ominous looking as you'd expect. My original plan had been to climb to the top and throw in a ring, but since that obviously wasn't happening, I had to settle for taking some photos with my Gaelic inscribed ring.
Close enough.
Continuing on the hike, there's a bit more of a mountain to climb before the highest peak of the trek. On the way, you'll see the Red Crater to your right.
Up at the top, you finally get a view out over the insanely vivid Emerald Lakes and Blue Lake. The Emerald Lakes are geothermal pools of a totally unnatural looking vibrant blue-green color. They stand out like crazy against the bleak brown rocks around them.
The Blue Lake further in the distance is a perfect oval on a raised platform surrounded by mountains.
Getting down to the lakes from the peak is a bit of a challenge, but a much more fun one than the climbs. This time, the problem is getting down without slipping all over the place. I recommend grabbing a buddy, holding each other's shoulders for stability, and taking turns sliding bit by bit. Anne-Marie and I did that, and it was pretty effective and kind of entertaining.
After passing the Emerald Lakes, you'll have to climb uphill a bit again to pass the Blue Lake, then the path is pretty flat. You'll hit a volcanic hazard sign since you're about to walk into the eruption zone of an active volcano, but unless the lights are flashing in warning, you're good to go. I think that if I walked all the way to that point and had to turn back due to a volcanic warning, I would literally cry.
Again, I thought the walk was over. I mean, we passed all the sights and had been walking for hours. Surely the car park was right around the corner, right? Wrong. We walked for about another hour or two on a path curving around the mountain where we could see steam coming out of the volcano in the distance. We zig-zagged down to finally reach a little wooden shack where there were finally bathrooms again, the first we'd seen since before the Devil's Staircase.
Again, I thought we would be finished, but we still had another 90 minutes to go which included an entire trek through the forest taking us up and down staircases and across a river.
A million years later, we finally emerged onto the parking lot fully exhausted and ready to get the shuttle back.
I've got to say, the second time I hiked was much more enjoyable, and not just because of the weather. It was because I had fully realistic expectations of just how long the hike was, where each section began and ended, and I was not constantly believing it was almost over just to be disappointed. This time I was able to bestow that bad news upon Lewis which was much more fun.
My final piece of advice is this: Do not plan anything for that night. You will be so shattered and sore, I'd be impressed if you didn't fall asleep on the bus ride back. You're basically a zombie. You survived Mordor. Just go to bed.
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