Hiking was very high on our agenda, when we decided what we would do in New Zealand. Friends had completed the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and highly recommended it, even though there were hundreds (sometimes thousands) of hikers on the trail at the same time. To evade the masses, we wanted to do the Tongariro Northern Circuit instead, which is a four day hike which included the highlights of the Alpine Crossing, but with which we could do this part when the masses had not yet started.

Unfortunately, once we arrived in the area, a bad weather front had moved in bringing rain to us and snow to the mountains. Since we were still in the off season it meant that the huts we planned on staying at were not fully operational. So heavy hearted, we started looking into doing the Alpine Crossing instead, to at least get some of the experience. When we checked at the local Visitor Information Center they confirmed our fears by telling us that all hikes were cancelled for the next couple of days, but they also gave us hope, that the forecast for Monday looked very good and it would be likely that it could happen then. So, we rearranged our plans, adding an extra stop at Lake Taupo before heading to the Tongariro National Park for two nights.

On Monday morning at 7:40 am our bus left and at 8:20 am we could start our hike.

The first section was relatively flat, ideal to warm up, and led us towards the base of Mount Ngauruhoe, better known as Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings films.

A short diversion brought us to the lovely Soda Springs.

Then, the first hard section of the day started, the Devils Staircase, about 400 steps and many steep sections brought us up to the South Crater. Up there everything was covered in snow, which gave the area a very special appearance.

Crossing the crater was a breeze, as it was completely flat.

A short ascent brought us to the ridge of the Red Crater, which has the name from the many red rocks that are visible on its flanks.

The first hikers already made their lunch stop here, but we decided to descend to the Emerald Lakes first.

The Emerald Lakes are so called because they shimmer in the most fascinating blue and green tones. However, with the current weather we almost missed the smallest lake completely, because it was entirely covered in ice and snow. Only the largest of the three lakes was mostly snow free and it did shimmer in very bright colors.

Next on our way should have been the Blue Lake, you can guess where it has its name from, however, it too was completely covered in snow.

Then started our long descent back to the finish line. The first part was very strenuous, because the snow wasn’t too stable, and we had to watch out not to lose our footing.

Once we were below the snow line it got easier and we enjoyed breath taking views down into the valley.

The last bit brought us through a lush forest, but by that time we were so tired, that we just wanted to arrive and had stopped taking photos ;).

After 7 hours and 50 minutes we arrived at the end, which is a good time considering that the given time for summer is 7 to 8 hours (not including breaks for lunch and Geocaching).

We were extremely lucky, the conditions were perfect for our walk, blue sky all day, almost no wind at the top (around 20 km/h) and temperatures above 0°C.

Even though we were tired that evening, we felt the positive effects of our training, because the next day we were fit enough to go on another beautiful two-hour hike in the National Park to visit the Taranaki Falls.