Tongariro Alpine Crossing
12/6/10
Apparently hailed as one of the world’s greatest one day walks, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is a 19.4 kilometer hike up and over the crater between Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. Not only is this one of NZ’s most active volcanic areas but one of the peaks is more commonly recognized as Mount Dune (?) from the Lord of the Rings movies. Yes, today I hiked nearly 12 miles through the land of Mordor (or something like that…I really shouldn’t have come here without watching the movies).
It was definitely a challenging hike (and long…7 hours for me…6-8 is expected although some did it in just over 4) but the views were absolutely amazing! I love how the scenery changed so much even in the course of just one morning. The weather changed too, from freezing at the top (with *SNOW* on the ground and SO much wind) to a balmy 75 degrees at the end. A lot of this is obviously connected to rapid altitude changes, from 1,100 meters at the start, up to 1,886 meters at the highpoint, and down to 750 meters at the end.
