After arriving in National Park via the Mountains to Sea route I rallied to hike the Tongariro Crossing the next day before the good weather window ended. This hike is billed as one of the best day hikes in New Zealand and was the reason I routed myself through National Park. It is a 20km (12 mile) hike on the pass between mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. These are active volcanoes with peaks, craters, shimmering blue lakes, and many miles of moonscape-like lava rock being featured on the hike. Twelve miles is a lot of foot miles for this cyclist, the heat has been high, and I was pretty beat up from the previous five days of cycling so I opted for the earliest possible shuttle at 6am. It was wonderful to do the 8km of initial climbing in cool morning air. The scenery was beautiful!
As I expected by time there was about 7km to go my feet were over it and the temps were once again uncomfortable! Time to get in the zone and keep on walking. I finished at 1pm, half an hour before the first shuttle pick up ready for food and a shower. I’m glad I did this beautiful and memorable hike!