16th April (19.4km hiked)

Today we destroyed the one ring. One ring to rule them all!

Not really. But we did hike past Mount Doom. (If you Google map Mt Doom it shows up as Mt Ngauruhoe. Ha) it was an epic day and one of the best hikes we’ve done.

It was a frosty start though.

Yes, ice on the tent. not really what I signed up for to be totally honest! It’ll be summer autumn, we’ll be fine camping. Yeah, right. It was the first time my sleeping bag had been cold on the inside. So that was something new!

Had to be up and out by 7am and the sun wasn’t quite up yet. We had breakfast and held onto our coffee for warmth. The shuttle bus ($40 each to drop us off n pick us up seemed a little steep..) took us to the trail head, and it was full with around 25 or so of us. There were at least 4 busses at the turn off, and apparently this was the only time drop offs were happening at this time of year. The driver let us know what time he would be at the end: 1.30pm, 3pm and 4pm. We had the numbers to call and he had our info just in case we didn’t make it in time. We had our challenge: make it back by 1.30, and we were set. For some reason I was nervous. I think it was when he said, so on the descent just remember to dig in your heels. Oh gawd. What was I letting myself in for!

We started off in a line of people as one would expect. The first part was gentle uphill following a stream, along a boardwalk.

Because Andy and I have been cycling uphill for a while now.. we are pretty ok at uphill hiking. We’ve got the stamina to keep going where others stop and rest. The 1000 steps on devil’s staircase were not too tricky. Then there was a muddy plane (South Crater) we crossed.

if you look really closely you can see Mt Taranaki on the west coast!

Another ascent took us to the saddle, where we might have seen the east out towards Hawkes Bay but unfortunately there was a load of cloud. It wouldn’t be a Drennan-Cooper hike without some cloud involved. Cracking views of the mud plane we had just crossed though.

We carried on to the summit of the hike. It was pretty steep and scrambly up to the top. About 10m to the top the wind started and it was bitterly cold. Back on with the jacket!

The top was amazing, but down the other side was mildly terrifying!

It was a slippery slope that we took very slowly. Me clutching onto Andy’s arm, side crab walking down the side of this slip. My trainers were filling up with rock with every step, I had to stop midway and empty them!

The hard part over we could finally enjoy the views and the smells.

It was so smelly, but so beautiful.

We got to the larger lake and had our sandwiches and crisps.

The clouds were creeping over towards us! It was time to make the dash to the finish line. And discover that perhaps we were not as fit as we thought! The time in the saddle had made our feet soft.

Lake Taupo in the background looking stunning!

Oh that’s where clouds come from… Steeper than it looks!

We made it down through the tundra switchbacks, through the bush, and down the steep forest steps. We were shattered.

Amazing day. So glad to be back on the bus! Oh and yes, we made it in 5.5hrs. Oof the legs will feel that in the morning!