Mount Doom

Next was a visit to National Park and *the* National Park. The two days I was there were crystal clear blue sky and cool, like a Colorado summer day in the mountains. I decided to do the Tongariro traverse in the National Park, a 15 mile traverse of the volcanoes in the park. You get dropped off at one end and picked up later in the day at the other end.

The trail goes right by a volcano, Mt Ngauruhoe, which is what they used in Lord of the Rings for Mt. Doom. Plus apparently they shot most of the Orc battles on the plains around these volcanoes. So EVERYONE on the trail referred to it as Mt Doom. 

The shuttle driver admonished everyone not to climb "Mt Doom" because that where all the accidents happen. This was before I knew anything about the movie connection, so I thought, ok, I won't climb Mt doom. As a matter of fact I won't even visit Mordor, ok?

When I got to the cutoff trail, I thought, hmm, we've climbed worse scree. But,  I thought, every time we did that it was horrific. That did not stop a surprising number of absolute novices from heading up the slopes because the sign said "3 hours round trip".  Maybe they all had evil rings of power they needed to destroy...

From the side you could see that just below the top it was probably 45 degree crap scree, and the track went straight up and down. You could see people getting high on the mtn but none on the top. It's only climbed because it was used in a fictional movie, hugely famous. Oh, and to destroy evil rings of power.....

It is an active volcano area, last erupting in 2012 and it was a big eruption. There are steaming vents and sulfuric lakes where "the very air you breath is a poisonous fume." Sorry, Boromir from LOTR broke through a bit.

Ok, this is supposed to be the best one-day trek in New Zealand. I believe it, it's pretty scenic. However.... A more scenic journey is to drive up Haleakala on Maui, hike through the crater, and drive back down. There are more ecological zones, weather interactions, shorter track, and fewer people. In both cases you spend most of your time hiking through volcanic craters.

At the end it really reminded me of Longs Peak: A famous mountain that everyone climbs whether they should or not, and extremely long.

Ngauruhoe, or "Mt. Doom" as the vast majority of westerners call it.

Summit of Tongariro. Mt. Doom and the snow encrusted Ruapehu in the background.