coroneljan.: Day 16: Tongariro Alpine Crossing + Mt Doom

Today I completed the Tongariro Crossing. Apparently one of the best full day hikes in the world. The hike takes around 7 to 8 hours total, and climbing Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom) adds an extra hour or two.

I took the 4 am shuttle to the National park with a few germans who requeated to get there early to see the sunrise. I figured it would be cool to see the sunrise from the mountain so I went for it. There were 2 hollandians a canadian, a brazilian and an italian who also went with us in the shuttle. Since I didnt know anyone I followed the people planning to climb Mt Doom (two dudes from Holland).

The good thing about getting there early is that the stars show so clearly. I have never seen the stars so clear in my life... and that there was a potential to see the sunrise.

The bad thing about getting there early is that we didnt really get tp see the first hour or 2 of hiking. Because it was dark, when we tried to climb the volcano, we lost track of where exactly we were supposed to climb so we were trying to climb directly on the side of the mountain, where each step brought us down twp steps because the rocks were so loose. We literally spent 3 extra hours trying to climb the mountain, and spent all our energy getting to the top. It was really rewarding making it to the top, but really there was 5 more hours of hiking ahead of us......................

Luckily the loose rock made it a lot easier to get down. The rest of the hike was amazing. The hike included climbing a volcano, walking through a desert plateau, passing sulfur lakes, climbing rocks, walking through plain field, and walking through a forest. By the time I reached the plains my knees were killing me (If we didnt waste all our energy on the mountain I think I wouldve been fine). By the time we reached the forest I didnt even care about looking at things, I just wanted to get out. By the end of it I hated hiking. I never want to do it again... maybe one more time...

Morning on Mt Doom

Stuck on Mt Doom

Attempting to climb loose volcanic rock

Holland dude for scale

Finally made it to the top! Featuring the two Hollandians. It was an awesome experience climbing with Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. (Hope they dont read this haha)