Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand

Rock Skiing, anyone?

March, 2016

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While I was hiking the Tongariro Crossing, Dona decided to check out another nearby volcano, Mt. Ruapehu. She had done the Tongariro Crossing about a decade earlier, and this was a good excuse to explore someplace she hadn't seen yet. She particularly wanted to see more of New Zealand's native fauna.

Tongariro Mt Ruapehu
Mt Ruapehu
Photo by Dona
Tongariro Grass Heather Tongariro Stream
Grass and Heather
Photo by Dona
Stream
Photo by Dona
Tongariro Ground Ferns Tongariro Ground Ferns
Ground Ferns
Photos by Dona
Tongariro Ground Ferns Tongariro Ground Fern
Tongariro Tree Cabbage Palm Cordyline Australis Tongariro Tree Cabbage Palm Cordyline Australis
Cabbage Palm (Cordyline Australis)
Photos by Dona
Tongariro Tree Bog Pine Sign Tongariro Tree Xxx
Bog Pine
Photo by Dona
Tree Xxx Bog Pine?
Tongariro Flower Xxx White Yellow Tongariro Flower Heather
Flower Xxx White Yellow
Photo by Dona
Heather
Photo by Dona

Mt. Ruapehu is a ski area, complete with all the usual ski-area razz-a-ma-tazz. Dona caught a ride up a ski lift. But as she said afterwards, they need a heck of a lot of snow before you want to try it out. Ouch! You could tear up a pair of skis in a hurry on all that lava.

Tongariro Mt Ruapehu Ski Town Tongariro Mt. Ruapehu Ski Town
Mt. Ruapehu Ski Town
Photos by Dona

Tongariro Ski Lift Tongariro Ski Lift
Rock Skiing, anyone?
Photos by Dona

Tongariro Condos
Condos
Photos by Dona

Tongariro Ski Terrain Tongariro Ski Terrain
Ski Terrain
Photos by Dona

Tongariro Ski Trail Sign
Ski Trail Map
Photo by Dona

Tongariro Tongariro Looking Downslope
Ski Terrain?
Photo by Dona
Looking Downslope
Photo by Dona

Apparently they were enlarging the area and putting in a new lift. They had a helicopter hauling concrete up to pour foundations for the lift towers.

Tongariro Helicopter WCocrete Tongariro Helicopter WCocrete
Helicopter WCocrete
Photo by Dona

From where she was, Dona had an outstanding view of Mt. Ngauruhoe!

Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe
Mt. Ngauruhoe
Photos by Dona
Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe

Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe

Tongariro Mt. Ruapehu
Mt. Ruapehu
Photo by Dona

Then she drove back over to where we were supposed to meet up and started hiking up the trail to meet me.

Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe
Mt. Ngauruhoe
Photo by Dona

Tongariro Flower Xxx White Yellow Tongariro Flower Xxx White Yellow
Flower Xxx White Yellow
Photo by Dona

Tongariro Mt. Ruapehu
Mt. Ruapehu
Photo by Dona

Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe Gary
Gary, Mt. Ngauruhoe
Photo by Dona
Tongariro Walking Stick End
The Tip of my impromptu Walking Stick
Picked up at the start
and worn down by tough rock

We arrived back at the car about 16:02, so it had taken me 07:47 total time to hike to Tongariro Crossing "backwards.". Actual hiking time was probably closer to five hours given the hours I spent waiting for the clouds to thin out.

We headed out of the park under mostly blue sky, looking for the nearest campground in our intended direction. But we had to pull off and enjoy the incredible panorama of volcanoes on the horizon.

Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe Mt Ruapehu
Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu

Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe Mt Ruapehu
Mt. Ngauruhoe, Mt. Ruapehu, steam vents on left

Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe Mt Ruapehu
Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu
Tongariro Mt. Ruapehu
Mt. Ruapehu
Photo by Dona
Tongariro Mt. Ngauruhoe
Mt. Ngauruhoe
Photo by Dona

We consulted our brochure of campgrounds from the New Zealand Department of Conservation and found one nearby. After some wrong turns and a lot of poking around we made our way to the Urchin Campground near the Pillars of Hercules.

Tongariro Camp Tree Trunk Gorge Tongariro Dinner Dona
Urchin Campground, Tree Trunk Gorge Dona Cooking Dinner

The next morning we headed down the trail to see what we could see. It was a nice walk through native forest.

Tongariro Snag Tongariro Snag Tongariro Burl Tongariro Tree
Snags Burl Tree

We came to the bridge over the Tongariro River, which was mostly dried up. The river squeezes through a fairly narrow gorge; at high flows it must be impressive. But at this level it would have been more fun to be down in the river bottom poking around.

It's not at all clear to me exactly what the "Pillars of Hercules" are in this context. The bridge is supposed to be at the Pillars of Hercules, and I suppose if I knew anything about Greek mythology this would all be obvious. I expected to see some great looming rock walls on either side of the river, but it's not that high. I guess it's the Pillars of Hercules just because it is a place where the narrow slot of the river breaks into the open on the other side.

Tongariro Pillars Of Hercules Bridge
Pillars Of Hercules Bridge

Tongariro Stream Tongariro Stream Tongariro Stream
Tongariro River

Tongariro Inkberry Turutu Dianella Nigra Tongariro Inkberry Turutu Dianella Nigra
Inkberry (Turutu) (Dianella Nigra)

Then we headed north through the Taupo area, on our way to visit friends in Rotorua.