Tongariro National Park
I left Wellington early in the morning, and a few hours laters I arrived at Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand. After a casual and relaxing day around town, which ended in sitting down by the lake, it was time to do another hike, in Tongariro National Park. When I read that it was said to be one of the top ten day hikes in the world, I was skeptical and suspicious. Such a massive claim to fame would need to be backed up by mind-blowing views, and previous experiences had taught me to be cautious with my expectations.
There was also the matter of getting to the park. It seems that there is only one shuttle service from Taupo, which costs a lot more than it should and leaves way too early in the morning. Thankfully, at the time I checked into the hostel, so did a couple other travelers who had a car, and they too were planning to hike in Tongariro. They agreed to let me join them, and each of us had to pay the extortionate fee for the parking and considerably shorter shuttle ride from the car park to the beginning of the trail.
At last, it was time to start. The dirt path was fairly straight and very easy to walk on. Along with quite a few other people, we made our way without much delay, as at that point there wasn’t much to look at. The path, rocky at times, was different from other trails I walked on so far, as I wasn’t by the water or near any trees. The volcanic path was unusual for me, but I was not impressed by it.
With little chatter, we walked for a few minutes until we got to a sign. The main path continued ahead, but we decided to take a detour to a nearby hut, wondering what it was. Turned out it was accommodations for people to sleep in, and not an area of interest. We quickly kept going along and back to the main road, while why would anyone want to camp at that point of the trail.
A while later we came across another sign along the road, and this time it did point to an area of interest, which was marked as Soda Springs. It was a small waterfall on the side of the main path, and the way over there was muddy in parts. We had to be a bit careful as we walked along and after a few minutes we were finally up close. It was nice to see those “springs”, which certainly stood out against the rest of the scenery, but there wasn’t much to it, and I have certainly seen better.
Getting back to the main road, we were going uphill for a while, although it was gradual and easy. That changed when we climbed a little hill and got to an area where quite a few people decided to take a break. There was a sign there, which declared that the easy part was behind us. Wondering if this is an ominous promise or an empty threat, we kept going.
Almost immediately I understood why the sign was there. We were going up stairs, and quite a few of them. This was not a hard part, but a painful one. But along that part of the road, between groaning and complaining about the stairs, the scenery started to change. We were surrounded by clouds that obstructed the view, but when they cleared up for a few moments we were able to see some nice views of the area below us. There wasn’t much time to enjoy it however, as the clouds quickly covered us again, and on top of that there were other people on the trail, waiting to go up.
It took us a while, but eventually we cleared up all the stairs and were on flat ground. We were still in the clouds, and at times it was difficult to see anything, but then we passed by a mountain, and the people I came to the park with had to point out to me that it was Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. I watched that movie a long time ago, and had no memory of what the mountain looked like, or why it was important. But at that moment, standing by it, all I could say was “it’s not impressive”.
We started to wonder where we were along the track. The shuttle driver said that something called “Red Crater” would be the halfway point of the trail, and should give us a reference point as for when we’ll make it to the end. It seemed that we were walking inside one of several craters up the mountain, although there was no sign to mark it.
Ahead of us we could see people stopping on a little hill, looking at something. We joined them, and I still wasn’t sure this was the right place, as it didn’t seem particularly red to me.
From that point, there was another steep climb, which I found to be both more challenging and more satisfying than the awful stairs we had to climb earlier in the day. The wind was strong and cold, and the rocky surface was a bit tricky to walk on, and I started to slow down my pace and catch my breath. On the bright side, the clouds started to clear up, and the higher we climbed the better the view got.
Then, at last, we saw another sign. We got to the peak of the trail, and below us were two sights. One was the Red Crater, and the other was the Emerald Lakes. It took a couple of hours, but for the first time on this track, I was impressed. The view was beautiful and unique, and to me it was worth the effort of getting all the way up from the beginning of the trail. But, as great as it was, it didn’t blow my mind.
My companions decided at that point to make their way down a little bit, to have a better view of the lakes and stop for lunch break, which was a bit too early for me. In order to get down, there was a need to go down a very steep section. The surface was loose and pretty much everyone made their way down sliding. I was quite slow in doing that, and very quickly lost sight of my companions.
Every now and then I’d stop to look around me, wondering where they are and how far down they went. A few times I thought I had seen them, but it easily could have been other people, and I just wanted to get all the way to the bottom of this steep section before taking any breaks. When I did get down, I wondered if I was left behind or if I somehow got ahead. I kept walking along the trail for a little bit longer, and by the blue lake I sat down to rest for a little bit. I still didn’t see my companions, and decided to just keep walking anyway. They were either quite ahead of me, or far behind. For a while at least, I was on my own.
As I passed the peak of the trail, it was all pretty much downhill from there. I was greeted with more views, not just of the volcanic rocks, but of the trees and the valley below. It was a fresh change, and I was enjoying the day more and more as it went by. On top of it, the clouds were clearing up and the sun came out, which made it all better.
It was all quiet and I felt quite relaxed. Nothing too interesting happened for quite a while, and I wondered once more how long it would take to make my way down to the end of the trail. Then I went into the trees, and the view was blocked for a while. I went further down, and the chances to see the view were less and less. In that part of the trail there were also less people around, so I could make faster progress.
The next change came about when I was out of the woods and back under the sun. I was still pretty much by myself, but the views were back, and the trail was pretty straight going down. I kept walking until I came across a rest area with a bathroom and a sign which said I’m only about thirty minutes away from the end. At this point, I was sure that if I didn’t see my companions so far, I won’t see them again until the end. Either they’ll wait for me by the car, or I’ll be waiting for them.
I walked on and on, despite being tired. I was determined to not stop again until the end. The minutes passed by, and eventually I crossed the half hour mark, then forty minutes passed by, and I wondered just how much I slowed down my pace when I came across another rest area. There I saw a sign, which said I am about forty five minutes away from the end. I must have misread the earlier sign wrong. Feeling a bit discouraged, I sat down to take a break and eat my lunch. It was a nice day, the sun was shining, and the view was great. It was a good place to stop for a while.
As I finished my lunch and got ready to resume my walk, I heard familiar voices. A few moments later, my companions emerged around the corner and we were finally reunited. It turned out they were waiting for me by the lake for quite a while before they decided to keep going, thinking I must be ahead of them.
Together again, we resumed the final leg of the hike, and soon enough we were back under the trees. Along most of the way there was also a stream of water rushing town, which made the forestry area feel better. We went on without stopping, and eventually we did get to the end of the trail, although that was not the end.
It turned out that from the end of the trail, we still needed to walk for quite a while before we got to the car and could go back to town. Tongariro National Park was a great experience, but not without issues. I don’t think it’s one of the top ten day hikes that I have ever done, let alone one of the best in the world. It was great, but at no point was it mind-blowing. And on top of it, there is the cost. The price of the shuttle from the car park is a lot more than it should be, and just barely okay. The price of the shuttle from Taupo on the other hand, is completely unjustified.