Tongariro Crossing

So after an eventful day of caving and skydiving, we stayed at Urban Retreat and got a good night’s sleep for the next bit of adventure. We had to be up at 5:30am to catch the bus to the Tongariro Crossing, an 8.5 hour hike considered one of New Zealand’s finest one day walks. The weather in the morning was freezing but by midday it had cleared up and was quite beautiful.

I was dressed as warmly as possibly could be with about 4 layers but by the end of the hike I had peeled all but one layer off! Meg and I walked with two guys from Atlanta, Georgia and a girl named Katye from South Carolina (we met her in Rotorua).

After 1.5 hours of walking a rugged and barren rocky mountain terrain, we came across the “Devil’s Staircase” which was appropriately named because it was over an hour of vertical climbing (800m). Our legs were burning! Once we got to the first plateau, the South Crater we stopped for some pics, but continued on up the vertical climb to Red Crater. This is where the best scenery is and where we had our lunches. The rocks were heated up here because it’s just next to an active volcano (scary!). This must have been where people got the idea for heated seats! From the top of Red Crater, you could see the Emerald Lakes (another appropriately named geographic area) and Blue Lake (again…). This was about 2100m and it was mostly downhill from here.

Red Crator and Blue Lake

Emerald Lakes

The view of Lake Taupo could not have been more beautiful. We were obsessed and took a million pictures. The combination of blue skies, blue lake, mountains, and snow made your jaw drop!

I have to say, by the end of this hike, I was pretty freaking tired and my old-age joints were in some pain. Everyone complained of aching knees for the next few days!