Five spectacular hikes in the Tongariro National Park
Hiking. It’s a great hobby, no?
You get to see amazing scenery. You get to sweat. Who doesn’t like the feeling of being a sweaty mop of a human? You get to eat great hiking snacks. You get to gloat to your friends, on your impressive hiking feats. Well, maybe not the last one - no one likes a gloater, folks.
Well without further ado, here are five spectacular hikes in the Tongariro National Park.
A Few Things To Note
Weather: the weather is very changeable in the Tongariro Park. It can quickly change from bright sunny day to sleet, hail and rain and gale force winds. Check the weather before you go, but also make sure you are prepared for any situation. It is also a great idea to bring a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon), just in case a situation arises where you need immediate assistance. These can be brought or hired from many outdoor equipment stores as well as iSites in the park.
Facilities: There are toilets on the trails, but many do not have toilet paper. So pack your own.
Hard? There are a variety of walks in the park. Ranging from the very difficult that take a few days to the easy wanders.
Best time? Summer or Spring is the best time for safe hiking in the park that does not require any additional alpine hiking gear such as crampons.
Walks that I recommend
Here are top five walks I would recommend in the Tongariro National Park. So, what are you waiting for. Tie up those hiking boots, pull up your socks, pack those snacks (do not forgot the snacks, first rule of hiking), and let’s hit the trails
Tama lakes
Are you ready to sweat actual bucket loads? Do you want to feel pain in 90 percent of your body? Do you want to feel levels of exhaustion that only woman who have been in labour for 48 hours can relate to? Okay, I may be exaggerating a little (actually a lot), but coming from a former couch potato, this walk is tough.
It is around 6-7 hours, and you walk on undulating ridges and gullies, but luckily always on a boardwalk. Except for that time where you have to do a river crossing, but if you have good hiking boots or are good at rock hopping you should be A-okay.
Anyway. After many many hours of walking. You reach the lower Tama Lake. A lake in a mountain. Kind of cool, no? And after some uphill scree climbing, you will reach the upper Tama lake. Two lakes in mountains. Very very cool. And worth the sweat and cursing.
I would recommend this walk as an alternative to the Tongariro Crossing. Less busy, still very beautiful.
Silica Rapids
Silica Rapids is an easy walk that takes you through some interesting scenery. There is the beech forests, with the tall beech trees and the twisted trunks of the kaikawaka trees, the bogs where you can hear fernbirds (mātātā) and see sundew flowers and then there are the actual rapids. White creamy fast moving water situation.
You can either return the same way you came to get back, or walk down Bruce Road if you are into the whole road walking thing.
Waitonga Falls
This waterfall does require a little bit of sweat. But maybe only an ounce or two. Mainly because of all the damn stairs you have to climb down to get to the waterfall, and as physics dictates, what goes down, must come up. Or something like that. Either way, you will have to climb some stairs during this walk and it can be tough on the ole creaky knee joints.
The waterfalls are the highest in the park, and once you do reach them, be it a little more sweaty than you left for the walk, it is impressive.
The walk in on itself is also impressive. At the half way point, there are some pools that offer amazing reflections of Mt Ruapehu on a clear day. There is a nice spot here for a seat. Take it. Enjoy the view. Because after that spot, the stairs await.
Mangawhero Falls
This is the shortest walk you can do. Seriously, you will hop out of the car, ramble down the path for two seconds and bam, you have arrived. And sometimes that is nice, you know. You do not have to sweat buckets to reach a nice view point. I like that sometimes.
The falls are gorgeous and this was a filming spot for LOTR. Go impress your equally geeky friends about that factoid. It is where Gollum chowed down on a raw fish. Makes this the perfect spot to propose really. Think on the stories you could tell your grandchildren Yes, we got engaged in the very spot, ole Gollum was feasting on a dead fish. Though they might ask what LOTR is, because at that point that movie is going to be an old timey movies that people used to watch in the old days.
Anyway. Good spot for a short walk. Pram friendly. Children friendly. Couch Potato friendly.
Rotopounamu Track
This walk had one of the loudest dawn chorus of bird song I had ever heard on a walk. It was deafening, like walking into a mosh pit at a rock concert. But rather than sweaty bodies everywhere, there are cool birds flying around and singing from the treetops. Better experience in my opinion.
The walk is around two hours and is a circuit around Lake Rotopounamu. The lake itself its gorgeous, especially on a misty sunrise. On a clear day, you can see Mount Pihanga in the background as well, making for an overall very epic scene.
The water is cold, but would be refreshing on a summer’s day. In winter, well, you may loss some of your outer extremities. Last time I went, the lake had frozen around the outer edges and pieces of ice could be picked up and inspected like some kind of cool icy mosaic.
There is one toilet for the loop, but there is no toilet paper and one of my favourite parts about the walk is the birdlife and the density of the forest. This walk was my favorite in the park. Bold statement, I know. But its the truth.