I climbed a volcano this weekend.
In the shuttle bus from our hostel, I took a look around. Everyone was well equip with hiking gear and had serious “I’ve done this a million times” looks on their faces. Then there’s me, sporting my high school Jansport backpack and wearing jogging clothes. Yup, I’m ready.
I wish I could tell this innocent, smiling face at the start of my 12 mile Tongariro Crossing hike (known to be one of the best day hikes in the world) that 11 hours later, you would be nursing a sore toes, a swollen and bleeding palm from falling on a rock, and basically ache all over. But you’d survive.
Have you noticed that since I’ve met Marie, I’ve posted twice about surviving? Yes, it seems that I’ve done two incredibly scary things in the past two weekends. I will not be doing anything scary for a long time; I promise, Aunt Betty! Frankly, my body couldn’t even if I wanted to J Today at Ashleigh’s playgroup, I sat with a woman who is a week from giving birth, and neither of us moved for a long time. That made me realize I’m doing a good job here fully appreciating what NZ has to offer!
Generally speaking, hiking the Tongariro Crossing takes between 7-9 hours, depending on how fast you walk and if you take any side trips along the way. It took us 11 because Marie took one look at a giant volcano and thought we should climb it. My first instinct was “No way in h*ll.” After thinking about it for a little while and feeling bad for keeping Marie from something she wanted to do, I decided to give it a try. Looking back at Ngauruhoe from the vantage point of safely from the ground, I could not believe that we had ever even thought it was a remotely good idea.
I was okay for a while. After about two hours, I started to panic a bit. It was unlike any terrain I had ever experienced. Basically, you climbed the entire time at a 45 degree angle, and as you got closer to the top, the rocks to grab on to became less and less. The surface was all sand-like volcanic ash, so you had no solid footing, and only some of the rocks were secure enough to use to hold. Granted, you wouldn’t have done much if you slipped besides sliding down a few feet. However, to me, it felt like I’d basically fall off the side and not stop until I hit the bottom. Hard.
Have I mentioned before I don’t like heights? Because I still don’t.
After my initial panic, I pushed through and was determined to get to the top. I think I had about two more fear attacks in the hour that followed before Marie and I finally decided enough was enough. The clouds were rolling in, and we still had an hour to go to get to the top. While she was doing fine, I was clearly not feeling comfortable. I had a hard time admitting defeat when we had come so far, but I reminded myself that not trying at all would have been the real failure. Actually, not trying at all would have been smart, in this case, but you learn to trust your instincts in situations where you don’t listen J
Coming down was my favorite part, and ironically, the part that made Marie nervous. I flew down once I got the hang of “sand skiing”- all you had to do was lean back, dig your heels in, and basically glide down.
After three+ hours on the volcano, we took a much needed lunch break before carrying on. The landscape is very surreal; we joked we were on Jupiter. By the time we reached the hut that marked out two hours from the parking lot, we realized we were well past making our return shuttle. How Marie had any energy left at this point, I don’t know, but she ran the rest of the way to see if she could catch a second bus. I opted to walk. It was a very peaceful part of the trip. The last hour was spent on a forest path sounded by trees, a stream, and the sounds of a nature. At this point, every step hurt because my toes had been pushing against the tops of my hiking boots for too long. A lovely trio of Germans overheard our plight and asked me if we’d like a ride. I eagerly said yes, and then tried to keep up with them despite the pain. They nicely told me not to worry about keeping pace with them and said they’d wait for me at the bottom with Marie. Okay J When I was about 30 minutes out, I passed a woman sitting on the trail. I stopped and said hi, and she was traveling from North Carolina and said that she separated from her friend so he could meet the shuttle and come back with the car. At that point I really needed someone to whine to, and we compared stories. I pushed on, and I walked the rest of the way with a Canadian couple who stumbled on me gingerly pulling off my socks to see if I had toenails left. (I did, and still do).
Hopping in the car with the Germans was the best part of the day ;) I enjoyed a celebratory Hokey Pokey ice cream cone (a Kiwi flavor similar to toffee that I had to try at some point) in front of the fire at the hostel before driving back to my cottage for the night.
Pretty amazing!
