The Dark Lord Sauron has returned to Mount Doom!

Yes, that's right, this weekend I climbed to the top of the volcano that was used as Mt. Doom in The Lord of The Rings movies. Is was absolutely amazing! There was not a cloud in the sky all day and the views were increadible. You could see almost see all the way across New Zealand! You could see Mt. Taranaki in the distance, which is basically right on the west coast, and you could also see just as far to the east! It was really amazing. I wish I would have taken more videos, as it was one of those places you really have to be there to imagine it.

Oh, and for those who might not know, the first statement is because my nickname (for a period of time) was "the Dark Lord", in reference to the films. I didn't particularly care for it, but it had something to do with people seeming to think that I had something to do with them drinking and partying every weekend. I think they just used me as an excuse to indulge (or over-indulge) in what they really wanted to do. Oh well, it's not the worst nickname any of us have had... "the Black Hole of Burma" comes to mind...

Any ways, in realistics terms, Mt. Doom is actually Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is part of the Tongariro Crossing hike. This hike is described as the best 1 day hike in New Zealand. And it lives up to it's reputation. During the Tongariro Crossing, we also passed by Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ruapehu. Mt. Ruapehu is a ski hill in the winter and last errupted in 1996, killing the ski season that year! Unfortunately, there were no erruption while I was there, but it was still an amazing hike.

I guess I should start at the beginning even though I want to skip right to the good stuff. So, I drove from Auckland to National Park on Friday night. Again I was leaving after work at about 4pm and the drive took about 4 hours on New Zealands horrible roads. I was typical impatient and tired, and thus driving faster than normal. OK above the speed limit. Well, this time it caught up with me. Only about 1/2 hour before I got to National Park, all of a sudden red and blue flashing lights. Shit! I got a ticket for speeding. $120 bucks!! Damn. Oh well, annoying, but not a big deal.

I guess I have just learned the hard way that the police have nothing better to do here in NZ than watch for speeding motorist. Kinda like Canada I guess. I kinda miss Europe where there are basically no trafic police watching for speeding, only cameras. I won't be speeding again here though, that's for sure. Especially not after $120/ticket, and getting caught on only my second weekend out. It will take a little while though to get used to driving so much slower. I think my average speed in Europe was 150, and now in NZ it will be 100. Oh well. The windy roads make it seem not so slow as well, so I'm OK with it.

So the cop says to me as he's giving me the ticket. "Well, you can pay it here or at this bank there, etc.", and then he says, "or you can not pay it and skip the country and never some back". Nice. What a prick. So any ways, I will definitely be paying it, seeing as I will be here for the next 5 months. And I don't want another warrent out for my arrest either. One in the state of Arizona is enough thank you!

After that fiasco it takes a little longer going the speed limit to get to National Park, but still manage to get in before 8pm. I stayed at a hostel in National Park for Friday night. I knew that it would be early to bed and early up, so didn't need any luxury. The bus to the Tongariro Crossing was at about 7:30 in the morning. They bus you up and drop you off at one end of the Tongariro Crossing, and then pick you up in the late afternoon at the other end.

So get this people, I am so excited about this hike that I am chit-chatting with complete strangers all the way there on the bus. For those who don't know me very well, I'm not a big people person. Well, I kinda hate people. Well, not all people I guess, not people I know. But I definitely hate kids and tolerate strangers at the least. So it's very rare for me to be small talking with strangers. Unless of course it's in a bar/club and I have been drinking. Then of course all judgement is lost and damn converation begin. So any ways, I must be all in this excited mood because I'm talking away to these University kids too. It was fun though, and I got some good information about other things to do in NZ from them.

So the bus drops us off just before 8am and the Tongariro Crossing begins. I end up walking with this kid from England (Suffix?), who just graduated school and is taking a year off to travel NZ, Aus, and volunteer in Shri-lanka. Again we walk for at least an hour having conversation. Of course he was kinda cute and (thus) a little more interesting than the University kids. Still a little unusual and this continued almost all day. At least until the pain started, but we will get to that later.

So the first part of the hike was very easy, mild incline. Mostly desert landscape, not much too interesting. There were a couple of streams and small waterfalls, but I somehow had my darn camera on black and white and didn't notice. Oh well. After that there was a very steep incline which basically required climbing with hands and feet. I now wish I had brought gloves for this hike as my hands were a little sore after it, but more importantly it would have made it a lot easier to climb with some sort of gloves as the lava rocks tend to be very very sharp. They were not required or anything though, as it wasn't like you had to pull yourself up, it just would have made it easier.

So after a little more than an hour we got the South Crater. This is a very long stretch of basically flat ground that (from it's name) used to be the inside of a volcanic crater. At this point we are also basically right at the base of Mt. Doom as well. This is where you can either continue on the regular hike or take a side trip and climb all the way up to the top of Mt. Doom. The regular Tongariro Crossing is advertised as taking between 6-8 hours and from my experience, they are usually estimated on the high side. And the Mt. Doom summit was an extra 2-3 hours. So I figured it should be able to do both in 8-9 hours and still catch the last bus at 5pm. Otherwise I would most likely be waiting for the bus, and that would be no fun. So after a little awestruck observation of the task ahead, we set off up the face of Mt. Doom.

There was a poled route leading off the main track to the base of Mt. Doom, and from there the route followed a rock ridge directly uphill toward the summit. It was a lot better than the way up Mt. Taranaki, because on this one we were able to vear to the left of the skree and climb up some rocky area instead of trying to climb up loose gravel. It was still a very hard climb. Very tiring, but just keept plodding on. And then, less than an hour and a half later the dark lord had returned to the top of Mt. Doom :) It was increadible. You could see forever! We were far above the clouds that you could see way in the distance. You could also see Mt. Taranaki off in the west. It was amazing.

Had lunch at the top (couple of granola bars and some water), and then it was up and off again. There would not be much time to lag around doing both the Tongariro Crossing and Mt. Doom in 8-9 hours. Luckily on the way down we were able to go to the left again (right side looking from the bottom), and go straight down the skree slope. Again this was a lot of fun barrelling down the mountain. It is very very hard on my old legs though, and I had to take frequent breaks. Because of this, the younger people got quite a bit ahead of me, and I lost them for the rest of the walk. Although I then started talking to these two Australian girls who were quite friendly.

So after getting back to the bottom of Mt. Doom, the Tongariro Crossing track continues straight across the South Crater (very flat) to a ridge leading up to the Red Crater. This was were the pain started. After about and hour of either downhill, or flat across the South Crater, the steep uphill to the Red Crater was very not welcome at all. My legs started to show the first signs of protest.

On the way up to the Red Crater, you can smell the sulphur, which apparently is evidence that the Red Crater is still active. At the top you can look down into the Red Crater and it looks kinda like something from the moon. The color is very red and the vantage point combined with ambience is very very cool. And again, the view from the top is almost as good as the view from the summit of Mt. Doom. The summit of Red Crater (1886m), is the highest point on the regular Tongariro Crossing, not counting Mt. Doom (2287m).

From here the track descends down to three water filled explosion craters called the Emerald Lakes. Their brilliant greenish colour is caused by minerals which have leached from the adjoining thermal area. The colour really is fairy-tale like. The green being very very green. Very cool to see. Then a short walk later you get to Blue Lake which is again a fairy-tale shade of blue. Very neat.

From this point you basically start the long LONG walk to the end of the Tongariro Crossing. At one point right after the Emerald Lakes, there is a sign that says 4 hours till the area where the buses pick you up. Yeash! My legs were already a little bit sore. I could not imagine how I was going to make 4 more hours of walking! It was also about 1pm at this point and I was originally hoping on catching the 4pm bus, not the 5pm. So I decided to pick up the pace. Although this is harder on the legs, it means less time walking which I thought was the better of the two evils.

Not much was exciting about the rest of the walk with all the major sights being on the first half of the walk. So luckily I was able to walk faster and make up quite a bit of time. It was a very very long walk back as the path kind of sidewinds down the mountains, instead of going straight up as the approach did. The end of the walk is also a lot lower in altitute than the beginning, so you have to walk that extra amout as well.

Eventually the desert dirt gave way to bushes which hours later gave way to trees and forests. There was also some very nice looking, but apparently sulferic streams. None of the water in the streams is drinkable because it is filled with all the gases and sulfurs from the volcanoes.

So I was really hurting by the end of the walk, but I knew that I had made good time by a couple of track markers along the way. So, I was aiming to catch the 4pm bus. Finally, at about 1/4 to 4pm, I arrived at the end of the Tongariro Crossing. My legs were about to revolt at this point! They were very very increadibly sore! But it was well worth it. I had done the Tongariro Crossing and been to the top of Mt. Doom!! And I did it in about 8 hours, so I was very happy. It was an amazing increadible experience and I would suggest it to anyone who gets the chance to do it!

After a short bus ride back to National Park, where most everyone was very quiet (nursing sore legs and bodies I imagine), it was back in the car and another short drive to Taupo. Lake Taupo is New Zealands largest lake, and is supposed to be the trout fishing capital of the world. Yippee! And I guess the trout are not even native to NZ either. I read that it wasn't until the 1880s and 1890s when the Europeans introduced brown and rainbow trout into the lake and rivers of the area. Didn't do any fishing, but did see the lake which is amazingly crystal clear. I'm sure it would be very nice to swim in.

So any ways, on Saturday night, got checked into a hotel and went into Taupo for dinner. Taupo is nothing too special. A lot bigger and nicer than National Park. I was very surprised that my legs were not still killing me. I guess after a couple of hours off of them theu were healing quickly, which was good. But needless to say I was pretty exhausted, so I think I was in bed and asleep before 9pm. On a Saturday! Oh how the times have a changed :-)

So up early on Sunday morning (like 6am!), and it was a grey day. I am so glad that the Tongariro Crossing was on Saturday because it was perfect weather. And it worked out for Sunday too, because although it did rain quite a bit it was not until I started the drive home, so perfect. First looked around Taupo a bit. Went to the lake and took some pictures, walked along the beach at like 8am in the morning. Very quiet.

Then I was off to the first sight of the day which was Huka Falls on the Waikato River, the longest river in New Zealand. It is only a very short ways from Lake Taupo. These falls are famous for the massive volume of water that is pushed through a very narrow stretch of rocks and then over the very small (only 11 meters) drop of Huka Falls. The outlet of Lake Taupo about 8 kilometres upstream, is controlled, so the flow over the falls varies, depending on both rainfall and the need for power generation from the hydroelectric dams on the river downstream. It was alright, but I have seen much better waterfalls, so overall I was unimpressed. Apparently there are often kyakers playing in the powerful current. But at 9am on a Sunday morning, it was not a big surprise that there was no one there when I was there.

So after Huka it was off to the Craters of the Moon. This is a thermal / geo-thermal kind of park area. The walk was named for its other-worldly atmosphere. It was about an hour walk where there were bubbling craters, mud pools and steam vents. There was also a lot of interesting plants that have adapted to thrive in the hot, steamy conditions. The whole walk was along well-formed pathways with elevated viewing platforms. A lot of the steam/thermal stuff was weird because it was almost seeping from all over the groud. Some places had obvious vent and bubbling holes, etc. But a lot was just coming from the ground that looked perfectly normal otherwise. But if you touched the ground it was very warm. It was very bizarre. The bubbling mud pots in Niland, CA were much more active, but this park was more bizarre and on a much bigger scale.

So after the Craters of the Moon, it was a little rush to get to the Aratiatia Rapids before 10am. The reason I had to be there at 10am, is because this is when the Mighty River Power (company) opens a damn on the Waikato River, and releases water down the Aratiatia Rapids. This is done a couple of times each day, starting at 10am. There was a road bridge across the top of the rapids, tracks and viewing platforms, which provide excellent vantage points from which to see the Aratiatia Rapids in action. It was alright, but not amazing or anything. It was cool to see how deep the river gorge was before the water was released. Then to see how much water came rushing down the gorge to completely fill it up, drowning tons of trees and plants in the process. Again, it would have been more fun to be in the rapids... but then the whitewater rafting will come soon enough, I must be patient. :)

So watched the rapid for about 1/2 hour. Had to hike to get to some of the viewing platforms, and I was surprised how my legs didn't hurt at all on Sunday. Must be getting in better shape already, so that's really good. The water only lasts for about 1/2 hour then they shut it down to generate power again. So while the water was flowing it started to rain, and so at 10:30 I started the drive back to Auckland. And then an uneventful drive back, which was good :)

And that was the increadible weekend. The Tongariro Crossing made the 30-40% pay cut I took to come to New Zealand all worth it right there! Well, maybe not, that's a lot of money to pay for one hike... but hopefully if things keep being this amazing it will be well worth it. Next, is Queenstown on the South Island for Easter long weekend, and then Me, Trevor, and Denise are all going to take a 2 weekend course and get PADI-scuba diving certified, which includes 4 open water dives in the north of New Zealand which should be very cool. Can't wait.