April 8-9

April 8, 2007

Easter Sunday. Josh and I had set the alarm for 6:15. Too early. Remember how I have this thing about not waking up when it is still dark outside? It was still dark.

As Josh and I went about getting our backpack ready for the day we noticed something on the bar. The Easter Bunny had come in the night. Jess and Ike had left us a chocolate egg! How nice!

I'm not a real big breakfast person (at least this early in the morning) so I had half a chocolate granola bar while Jess and Ike were eating some scrambled eggs she'd whipped up. The shuttle was running behind schedule and arrived at 7:15 rather than 7. We were the first people on the bus and we each grabbed an individual seat.

As we went into Ohakune, we picked up more and more people for the climb. Most were appropriately dressed i.e. thermals under shorts, rain gear, hat, gloves, hiking boots. The bus filled up and pretty soon we were leaving down and on the road towards the Tongariro Crossing. The bus driver told us a bit of local history as we made the 35 minute drive. We arrived a bit behind schedule, according to the driver.

There would be two pick up times at the other side of the mountain. A 4:00 and a 5:00...we aimed for the 5:00. We took our picture at the entrance to the crossing and began the one hour walk that led to the base of Tongariro. We passed waterfalls and streams along the way. The flat walking trail was really nice and Mount Ngauruhoe was clearly visible as we walked closer and closer to the mountains.

So, the first hour wasn't so bad but we knew we weren't going to be able to hang with Jess and Ike who wanted to do a side trip and climb Mount Ngauruhoe. See ya. We planned to meet at the end of the trail and take the 5:00 shuttle regardless of the time that everyone finished the hike.

Josh and I were on the slow track. Seriously, the web says that the first 45 minute ascent is the most challenging part of the journey but let me tell you what I was thinking while climbing:

*This is a joke

*This can't be real

*It's too late to turn back

*It's just rock and mud...I can do this!

The last thought is pretty much what got me through the majority of the walk...that and the thought of spaghetti for dinner as we neared the end of the day. This picture can kinda illustrate the steepness of the climb as Josh was behind/below me and I was sitting there (not even at the top yet) taking a break.

When we reached the summit (or what, as it turned out, I thought was the summit) we had some snacks, talked, regrouped mentally and prepared to go on. We thought we were going to be okay because once you get to the top, the landscape flattens out as you are in the crater area. In the distance, we saw that we were going to have to climb up and out of the crater but it didn't look too bad....until we got there.

More uphill walking, stopping to catch our breaths, save your legs, etc. Yes, we were rewarded with an AWESOMELY SPECTACULAR view of the land below but jeez, I didn't know how much more of this I could take...and I was starting to feel like I needed to pee. Uh oh.

No joke, after looking at the amazing view, we had to climb uphill more to reach another summit. The rocks were loose here and I slipped a few times. Josh was bringing up the rear and we didn't know where Jess and Ike were in relation to us because we didn't know whether or not they decided to do the extra climb or not.

We reached the top of that and were able to see the red interior of the volcano which was amazing....except for the fact that we had to walk uphill even further before we got to start downhill toward the Emerald Lakes. But, it's hard to get excited about going downhill when downhill is on loose gravel and if you fall, you better hope it's on your butt (like me) rather than on your face. Hence, the photo of me posing looking fake happy by the Emerald Lakes.

After passing by the Emerald Lakes, I asked Josh how far to the next bathroom. He told me it was just up the way so I said bye to Josh and started making a run for it. Until, that is, I saw a sign that said the next major site was 2 hours away (and I knew that site was the next place with a bathroom). So, since I'd run ahead of a group of people and I couldn't see anyone ahead of me, I found a big lava rock to pee behind. Seriously, what else are people supposed to do on an all day hike when there is a minimum 4 hour walk between bathrooms?That done, I waited on Josh to catch back up to me. I always tried to keep him in my line of sight. Then, I'd run off again...I REALLY wanted to get off the mountain. Experiencing the beauty, otherworldliness, vastness and isolation of being on the walk was one of the best and worst things I've done in my life. However, I said I would never do this walk again.

Josh said that this walk illustrated to him again that whenever I set my mind to do something, I become very focused and determined to achieve that goal. He thought I was mentally strong by the fact that even though I was in so much pain I still pushed myself to literally run ahead of him.

The trail never seemed to end...it kept going and going and going. Seriously, you would see signs that said they next stop area was two hours walk ahead and you'd think it was a joke. How could it still be so far to go? When the Emerald Lakes are behind you and you make it out of the second crater area, you start walking around the side of the mountain and WHAM it hits you...one of the GREATEST views you'll ever see: the glory of Lake Taupo spread out in front of you while you're looking through the mountain pass.

Then it's just back to watching your feet as there are wooden planks in the ground that you can trip over if you're not careful. The landscape changes to a grassland kinda look and you can make out the next pit stop - the hut you see in the picture. However, distance is misleading and there are so many switchbacks in the mountain trail that you wonder if you're going to make it to the hut. I'm the red dot in the picture (click to enlarge). At this point, I was making animated and dramatic death signals to Josh who was so far away taking my picture. For example, I acted like I was choking myself, diving off the cliff, etc. I could see Josh laughing his head off way in the distance so that was a good time.

As I was walking down the mountain and keeping an eye on Josh, I recognized the bright blue sweatshirt Jess was wearing and the tallness of Ike behind here. I gave a wave and they waved back...they were behind Josh on the trail. However, as I rested at the hut (when I'd eventually made it there) the three of them had caught up with each other and arrived at the hut together.

So now we were all back together which was nice. Jess and Ike had done the side climb of Mount Ngauruhoe and their hands were all cut, dirty and bloody because of it. Everyone was worse for the wear and it was now 4:00 which meant we had an hour to get off the mountain and catch the shuttle back.

I led the way. Everyone seemed complacent with the idea that the bus would wait for us or something but I was like, "I'm leaving." The sign said we had another 2 hours until we reached the carpark so if that was true, we were going to be late. I pushed it on the way down, running when I could. I wasn't running to show off and be like "Hey, look at me." I was running because I was honestly and truly desperate to leave.

The thought of a hot spaghetti dinner drove me forward as did the thought of the bus driver saying that when you hit the forest you only have 20 minutes left. Well, when we hit the forest, Jess and I joined up in a power walk that would make any mall walker in America proud. Dude, we were passing by people at the end of the trail....but we still reached the end of the trail at 5:30 and our shuttle bus was gone. That whole part about 20 minutes in the forest was my wishful thinking. Apparently, the bus driver had said once you reach the stream in the forest, you have 20 minutes left. AHHHH!

We sat/laid down and I told Jess that we should be really proud of what we had just accomplished. We talked to some other people who were waiting for their ride and then the guys showed up at 6:00. Josh said he'd received a phone call from our shuttle driver at 5:15 saying they were leaving us and that another shuttle would pick us up at 6:15.

Josh looked so dead when he made it out of the forest. I was really proud of him for giving it all he had when even his legs (which never failed him before) were cramping up on the trail. We were all so exhausted. We were also the last people left at the carpark when everyone's ride (except ours) had shown up.

Our shuttle arrived at 6:30 and the driver was mad at us at first but we explained the situation and it turned out that the 5:00 shuttle driver had lied to him saying that he had waited for us until 5:45. That was not true and Josh had the cell phone message to prove it. Anyway, the guy had bought us a pack of M&Ms which was really nice and we all loaded into the van which didn't have seatbelts and had a handful of the chocolate. Josh and I talked to the driver for a bit while Jess and Ike sat in the back.

We made it back to the house around 7:30 pm and crawled our way into the house. We put on dinner, everyone but me managed to grab a shower before dinner was ready and I grabbed a shower after we'd eaten. While I was showering, John came over to settle up with the money we owed him for renting the place. $400 total but by sharing the cost it was like each couple paid $100/night to stay in the house. We put in North Country in the DVD player and just settled down to watch a show and relax before going to bed. We went to sleep around midnight, however, we didn't plan on waking up until about 10:30 the next day to leave around 11:30.