Tongariro Alpine Circuit - Stats & Maps

Nothing massively surprising came out of my maps for the Tongariro Circuit. I did a few less steps than I expected most days, but otherwise was quite happy with the walk.

 

Day ONE - Every km had some uphill, ranging from 17m in the 5th kilometer to 79m in the 2nd (which was also our slowest). Our fastest section was the last 600m to the hut, which is unsurprising, given this was the point where we came off the clay gully and onto the immaculately manicured Tongariro Alpine Crossing track. The going here was often slower than the terrain would suggest as the walking required careful consideration to avoid unkempt track.

Fitbit: 26,351 steps

MapMyWalk: 8.64km, 202m gain, 11,751 steps while walking, 10,895kJ 

DoC: 8.5km 

Day TWO - It honestly looks like we ran out of puff just before crossing into South Crater - it took us an HOUR to complete km 5. What it doesn't show is that we stopped to take some night photos, and didn't stop the tracker while we did. We were running out of puff a little by then though, having done over 2 hours all uphill with no breakfast and on about 3 hours sleep. Our next slowest km was the final climb to the top, where we did hit the wall. That was hard. The biggest climb was in the 4th km, at 213m. It is easy to pick where we got down off the lava flows and onto the better track, as our pace speeds up significantly.

Fitbit: 30,796 steps

MapMyWalk: 12.08km, 629m gain, 16,432 steps while walking, 20,707kJ

DoC: 12.8km (8km Mangatepopo to Emerald Lakes, 4.8km Emerald Lakes to Oturere)

Day THREE - Turns out, there's quite a climb between Waihohonu and Whakapapa. It actually didn't feel that bad, especially after the short, sharp, up and over we did to get to Waihohonu in the first place. It is completely unsurprising that that section was both our slowest, and our biggest single-km climb, with the climb being nearly perfectly 1km, and 143m. Distances are a little out on this day as I had to use my iPhone, which tends to add in unnecessary loops, creating extra distance, but also increasing speed.

Fitbit: 43,159 steps

MapMyWalk: 25.35km, 496m gain, steps not suggested, 21,569kJ

DoC: 21.8km (7.5km Oturere to Waihohonu huts, 14.3km Waihohonu to Whakapapa)

Exemplar iPhone loops at Waihohonu