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A Practical Guide to Hiking Mt. Doom & Tongariro Crossing

Mar 7th, 2009
by WanderingJustin.
4 comments

 

From nz1

Mount Ngauruhoe is a rocky and barren place upon which your feet will find little purchase. The land surrounding it is a blasted hellscape devoid of much flora or any fauna. All that’s alive here is the earth, as proven by the number of vents gushing steam and shooting crystalline sulfur pellets from its fiery depths.
But walk a few miles, and the stench of sulfur will abate. A verdant rain forest will reappear.
As nice at is to see signs of life again, it’s the lava-scoured lunar surface that truly makes the Tongariro Alpine Crossing by far the most incredible single-day hike I’ve ever done. According to most guide books, just hiking the crossing should take 6-8 hours, not including a side-trip up Ngauruhoe, which starred in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as Mt. Doom, the hangout of bad guy Sauron. One look at it, and you’ll understand why it filled the role so well. It adds about three hours to a typical hike along the crossing.

I’m ready for a nice little walk.                                                                      From nz3

A QUICK TIME LINE – Just remember, Tongariro’s weather is highly variable. This was on a sunny and perfect day without much wind.
Hour 1: The hike starts off going between lava flows for Mangatepopo Car Park. You’ll pass dripping springs and a turn-off to one of the huts.
Hour 2: You’ll start up The Devil’s Staircase, which is where things start heating up. The reward once you get to the top is choosing whether to climb [...]

Update from Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

Feb 24th, 2009
by WanderingJustin.
No comments yet

The weather at Tongariro National Park can -and does- change quickly. Rain gear is a must!
Water might be essential, but it’s better to drink it out of a bottle than get soaked in sheets of it falling from the sky. Still, the scenery here is awesome. I have expect to see Bruce Campbell and Kevin Sorbo re-enacting scenes from “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.”
But here’s a preview of the advice to come later: Don’t count on stocking up on energy bars and drinks at the park. Stop in Taupo to load up. Much smarter. I learned this the hard way. Mars Bars are not – I repeat, not- good hiking snacks.

New Zealand plans taking shape

Jan 6th, 2009
by WanderingJustin.
1 comment

Well, the plans for the New Zealand adventure are coming together nicely. I’ve booked a bunch of accommodations on the North Island; Sarah will handle most of the South Island plans.
We’re mostly booking smaller, locally owned hotels. They operate a bit differently than an international chain, where you visit the Web site, enter your dates, pick your room and you’re done. With the smaller places in New Zealand (and in Australia, Costa Rica and Belize, too), you often have to send an inquiry to the hotel with your dates. The staff then gets back to you to confirm, and that’s when you get down to the credit card number business. It takes a bit more time, but it’s worth it. So far, the New Zealand hotels have been super-fast and friendly.
One of the more interesting places we’re staying will be Woodlyn Park. We’ve reserved a room in the tail section of the airplane, which should be all sorts of cool. The New Zealand Department of Conservation was also exceptionally friendly and helpful in giving me the lowdown on how to get hut passes in the Tongariro area.
For me, hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing will be one of the key points of this trip. Obviously, the New Zealand government is really clued in about how to make a hike even better … throughout its parks, you’ll find huts that can range from barely a lean-to to fully heated and enclosed affairs. And they’re pretty inexpensive for a night. That frees up [...]

Cameras: Just as important as a plane ticket

Dec 6th, 2008
by WanderingJustin.
3 comments

The best souvenir you can bring home is a great photo.  And New Zealand looks like it will give me a lot of incredible photos. There’s just one little problem – my poor old Fuji S5200 superzoom has been through a lot of hard knocks, from deserts to temperatures well below freezing. It’s showing its age a bit, with some shots starting to lose sharpness, and a power button that often gets sticky and balks at firing the camera up. It seems that over the last year, the Fuji has gotten particularly bad at high ISO settings.
The Fuji could probably survive New Zealand, but I don’t want to fly 15 hours and have it die. Or worse yet, just take mediocre shots of stellar scenery. So it’s time for a new one … and I decided long ago that I was ready for a digital SLR. The first one I considered was the Olympus E420, the smallest SLR in all the land (and the one that uses the same xD cards as my Fuji). My co-worker, Alex Scott (who is a most-excellent graphic designer and artist), steered me toward Pentax, which is making some impressive stuff. I gave Canon and Nikon their due, but I just wasn’t impressed with the plastic-like, somewhat flimsy feel of their entry and intermediate-level cameras. Sony wasn’t a consideration since I just don’t like their controls and layouts. I thought about Fuji, but they just didn’t have what I wanted in my price range. Believe it [...]

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