Let me just say that you all will be very proud of me for doing this crazy, crazy trek! As Dave (or E-VIEL as I like to call him) can attest to when we went hiking up that stupid mountain in Banff with Eddie, I do not like steep mountain climbs. Actually, I am more impressed that my friend, who convinced me to do this, actually made it through the crossing cuz she has vertigo. Good on ya, Mona! (She is a Pom living in Singapore, not Edmonton Mona) More info on trek here.
I used Tongariro Expeditions to get me to the parking lot of the start of the trail. I have never heard of this hike but apparently it is called the best one day hike in all of New Zealand.
Set off from the parking lot at 8:07am and didn’t get out of the trek till 4:35pm.
The Devil’s staircase was not actually stairs but just a rocky, steep incline. You have to pick your way through the black volcanic rocks and about 3/4 of the way to the top, there was SNOW! Mona had a hard time over little bits of the Staircase but managed fine, generally. Met a newlywed couple from Scotland/Ireland who helped Mona up the staircase cuz I didn’t realize her vertigo was so bad and I went ahead of her.
After a hike along the ridge of the South Crator, we passed Mt. Doom! I ate lunch with with an amazing 360 degree view. I thought the worst of it was over and it was all downhill from there literally but no, we had to hike up more narrow, rocky mountain. From the top we had a great view of all three volcanoes and both the South and Red crators.
Then, the most crazy downhill walk ever for a vertigo challenged person. The entire mountainside was covered in loose, black volcanic rock. We took quite some time walking down there since there was no place you could put your foot on something solid. But the view of the three emerald lakes was gorgeous. It has sulfur vents coming up all around it as well.
Although the last 4 hours were not as challenging as the first 4, all of us were getting quite impatient. Some of us had to go potty and there is not bush up there tall enough to hide someone. 😀
The last hour of the trek was in the forest. It totally reminded me of of an LOTR set. I was sure hobbits or Tom Bombidil would pop out of the bush any moment!
I would recommend this hike to anyone coming to NZ but just make sure you don’t bring 3 litres of water for just yourself!! That was the stupid thing I did. I would have been fine with one litre!
Bertha