Tongariro alpine crossing
near Whakapapa Village, Manawatu-Wanganui (New Zealand)
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Trail photos
We prepared for a day of hiking and took the shuttle to the start of Alpine Crossing. We started walking a little before 9am. At the beginning, the path runs along the course of a brook, we were surrounded by cushions of white moss, white, gray and red lichens, orchids, purple flowers and jasmine ... All this on the ground. a lava flow of 1870. We passed Mangatepopo hut. We walked on wooden planks to Soda Springs, a light waterfall and then we climbed a steep climb through multiple lava flows, entire fields of slag and ash and the debris of a fiery cloud of 1975. We finally arrived at South Crater after 1h30 of walking since the beginning of the trail. We had a 360 ° panoramic view of South Crater, Mt. Tongariro, Mt. Ngauruhoe (photo 1), west of the park. Besides, the sky was so clear that even Mt Egmont was visible, 120km away. The only cloud we could see all day was the smoke plume from the Te Maari eruption (see later in the same article, on the same day). So, we crossed South Crater in fifteen minutes then we started a second rather significant climb but considerably shorter than the first one (30 minutes only), on a ridge. At the top of this climb, we arrived to red crater, a magnificent crater of red slag with fumaroles on the north side. And behind the crater, always on the same ridge but on the other side, surprise! We discover the lakes of Emeraude (photos 2 and 3), the colors are beautiful, breathtaking ... We ate there and then we went to blue lake (photo 4) and we went along (On the photo 5, we see Red Crater and Mt Ngauruhoe from Blue Lake) until the start of the descent. During the descent to Ketekahi Hut, we had a breathtaking view of the fissures and crater of Te Maari, a cone that formed on August 6, 2012 and has been burning since the beginning of the eruption (photo 6) . So we were able to contemplate the eruption from several points of view ... During the descent, the context changes a lot, we go from slags to the deciduous forest, through alpine vegetation and coniferous forests ... arrived at the car park at the end of the trail at 3:38 pm, 6:30 am after the start of the hike. We waited until 4pm and then took the shuttle to Howard's Lodge.
Waypoints
Car park
3,635 ft
Mangatepopo parking
Mountain hut
3,898 ft
Mangatepopo hut
River
4,452 ft
ruisseau
Summit
7,293 ft
Mt Ngauruhoe
Summit
5,827 ft
Red crater
Waypoint
0 ft
South crater
Lake
5,663 ft
Emerald lakes
Lake
5,643 ft
Blue lake
Summit
4,954 ft
Te Maari
Wilderness hut
4,675 ft
Ketetahi shelter
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