Tongariro Crossing
Long weekends are always a good chance to go further afield and see parts of the country that can’t be seen on a typical weekend. Keen to get down to the Ruahine Ranges again, I planned out a three-day hike around Parks Peak Hut with Abby. However, in the lead up to the weekend, the weather was looking ominous so we resorted to plan B and based ourselves in National Park village, opting to do a day walk instead of a multi-day hike.
Checking the Metservice app religiously we saw a window of good weather and decided to give the Tongariro Crossing a nudge. We were met at the start of the track by a DOC worker who checked we had the appropriate gear and warned us Red Crater was a cool -5 degrees. Leaving Mangatepopo car park we made our way up the valley floor to the well-known Devil’s Staircase. We battled the stairs for a good half an hour and our windproof jackets were chucked on as the temperature dropped.
Reaching Red Crater we were surprised at how few people were around. It was noticeably quieter due to NZ’s international travel restrictions.
The wind had a cold bite to it and forced us to add a few extra layers. We had lunch at Emerald Lakes before turning back for the 8km return walk to Mangatepopo car park.
