Our adventure for today was driving a little over an hour from Taupo to the Tongariro National Park. Not only is this a national park it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some other spiffy places with the same designation are the Great Barrier Reef, Grand Canyon and the Pyramids.
One of the walking trails that we wanted to check out was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing Trail. This trail is just a little over 12 miles in length. Along the way it crosses between Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe both of which are considered active volcanos. Tongariro last erupted in 2012 and Ngauruhoe in 1977.
The walk crosses ice fields and requires the use of ice crampons on your shoes and ice picks. The walk was amazing.....at least that's what we read from people who have done it.
We know our limits and this wasn't within them. We did see the sign to the trailhead. Does that count for anything?
We did do three walks, two that were within the park and a short one just outside.
First up was the Taranaki Falls Trail. This trail was the highlight of the day. It was just under two hours long with some moderate elevation changes. Along the first half we had great views of the two snow covered mountains/volcanos while the second half was mostly under a forest canopy along side the icy stream.
It had actually snowed down to about 3000 feet overnight so there was plenty of fresh snow in the distance. The stream feeding the water fall was full making the brisk and breezy mid-day hike well worth it.
Next up was Lake Rotopunamu which is a secluded lake in the national park that is believed to have been formed by a landslide over 10,000 years ago. The interesting thing about it other than the ridiculously long name is that there are seven streams that feed into the lake constantly but no visible outflow. It was a short but mostly uphill hike to this peaceful setting and there was a three mile trail around the lake but since we had just finished the long hike to the falls we opted out. The good news here, the mostly uphill trail to get to the lake was now magically mostly downhill for our return to the car!
At our final stop we realized we had made a mistake. We ended the day with a short but very interesting walk at the Tokaanu Thermal Fields and Hot Pools.
The walk started by crossing over a crystal clear stream that was full of trout of all sizes. As I was watching, an older man walked by and with his thick New Zealand accent said "makes you want to go get your fishing pole doesn't it mate"? Nothing profound or significant in what he said but for some reason I was struck by the simple and kind greeting. I think he would have been a fun guy to go fishing with.
The thermal walk took us by boiling mud pots, boiling clear water springs and icy streams. I was fascinated by the fact one body of water would be super hot, walk 20 feet and it would be a near freezing stream. I guess the moral of the story here for this place is to stick your toes in the water before you jump in or you might not get what you were expecting.
Now about that mistake. There was a really nice hot pool here that would have made for a great soaking but we forgot to pack our bathing suits.
The story does have a happy ending. Our hotel room comes with it's own private hot pool...no bathing suit required!
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| Mount Ngauruhoe |
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| Mount Ngauruhoe and Tongariro from across Lake Taupo (taken from our hotel) |
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| Lake Rotopunamu |
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| Taranaki Falls Trail |
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| Taranaki Falls Trail |
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| Taranaki Falls Trail |
