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2820 Tongariro Alpine Crossing (only partly devious), 6-7 April 2019

Saturday saw us leaving Waikato Hut, well fed on porridge, sausages and toast. Soon we were being dropped off at the Mangatepopo road-end along with hundreds of other punters, who we followed for a km or so along the track until we dived off to the left to cross the gully and climb up onto the gradually rising ridge that led us up to the base of Tongariro. This was easy going in low, open alpine vegetation. We could see the track walkers well below us.

At the 1700 metre level, we got our breath and then headed north-east around the base of the mountain, crossing several gullies and climbing gradually onto a flat, un-named crater. We carried on the same bearing to reach the rim of North Crater, an interesting looking flat expanse with a small crater within it. It took some good navigation work by Les and Jacob to find a way down the cliff that formed this edge of the crater. Lunch was had on the northern rim of the crater with views down to Lake Rotoaira and the Te Maari craters. We could see the phalange of Crossing walkers below us. A cold wind shortened the lunch but we soon met up with the track by heading down slope through tussock. Then it was a long slog down the zig-zags to the Ketetahi road end. It's no wonder that a lot of injuries happen to tired trampers on this section of the Crossing (one of our own party ended up with a sore knee).  We reached the bus at 4.40pm after 7 hours on the transit. Dianne told us that 30 bus loads plus vans and other vehicles had already come and gone from the carpark.

We noticed the poor state of the Crossing track in places; there were missing sections of the cell matting surface and these lay on the track ready to trip people up. You would think that this premier track would warrant a continuous maintenance effort.

Sunday saw a fall off in enthusiasm. Some stayed in at Waikato Lodge for rest and recreation; some went off on short walks and the remainder went on a real walk, across to Meads Wall (via a route along Happy Valley to avoid the gondola construction area). We headed north, past a narrow section of the ridge beside a steep drop into the valley and then gradually worked our way into the Whakapapanui Valley. Across the stream there was a climb up onto a broad ridge with wind sculpted rocks and a variety of alpine plants. This took us on to the formed Ridge Track which comes out in Whakapapa Village next to the shelter. 4 hours of walking and a nice day.

The gang was: Lesley K, Alan W, Les W, Brandon H, Tristan & Jody with Antoinette and Romandow, Jocelyn W (photo credit), Sharon S, Jacob H, Selwyn J (leader & scribe), Dianne J (driver & cook). Merlyn W joined us on Sat night at the end of a 3 day walk in the Park.