Exhaustion level: Epic

 

Tongairo Northern Circuit, Great Walk. Whakapapa Village to Whakapapa Village.
Party: Marion, Me
03 – 05 February 2018

Halfway up the Devils Staircase, under the light of the ¾ moon, at about 4:30am on Sunday morning, Marion commented to me that I was probably the only friend she had crazy enough to not only do, but suggest, such a trip. I think she meant it as a compliment.

Track, Whakapapa - Mangatepopo

After dropping off our town clothes and after-tramping food at the club lodge at Iwikau, we nabbed a carpark in the village, threw on rain gear and headed off on the “least maintained track in the National Park” (DoC Visitor Centre Rangers own words). With reasonable weather, we made it across to Mangatepopo Hut in good time. The track was definitely average, with some bits that would be awful in bad weather.

It was cold on the deck of the hut, catching the wind, with little to no sunshine, but it was lovely and warm inside with the gas fire going. We nabbed bunks, had some dinner, and re-packed as much as we could in preparation for Sunday mornings scheduled 3am alarm. After a gorgeous sunset, most of the hut started heading for bed, although the DoC Ranger on duty sat up being rowdy and drinking with a small group of others who had turned up with a significant quantity of beer and vodka.

Needless to say, Marion and I felt no guilt at all when we woke Mickey, who was sleeping on the kitchen floor (having given his room to his mother for the night), as we were heading out at 3:15am.

Sunset, Mangatepopo

The weather was perfect for night walking – clear, cool but not bitingly cold, and with a reasonable moon. We had head torches in our pockets mostly for when we were in and out of our packs changing up layers, relying solely on the moonlight for walking. We could see head torches ahead of us on the staircase, but we never caught up with them.

Near the crest of South Crater we were overtaken for the first time by a daywalker (so, sometime around 5:45am), who soon went back down past us, looking for his girlfriend. We were shocked that he had left her behind in the dark.

The light was starting to rise on us, and with our night-adjusted eyes, South Crater looked bathed in sunlight well before the sun was up. We made it to the edge of the crater just in time for sunrise and settled in with all our warm layers for breakfast at last. It was bitterly cold at this point, probably the hardest time of our morning, and we still hadn’t made it to the top.

Emerald Lakes

More people were starting to come up and through to overtake us at this point, and a group was already on their way back as we paused just before the crest of Red Crater, while a drone illegally flew overhead, ruining the otherwise peaceful morning atmosphere.

We finally started warming up as we headed down Red Crater to Emerald Lakes, and by the time we had taken more stops here, and gotten around the bottom lake to the track to Oturere Hut, the top of Red Crater was covered like an ants nest with people – a sight we regularly looked back onto for the rest of the day. We were thrilled to have beaten the crowds.

Once back off the Alpine Crossing, the track condition deteriorated again, and was a huge climb down before meandering along towards Oturere. Our fatigue started showing here, as everything took longer than expected.

Oturere Hut

It was cold when we arrived at Oturere, not long after most of the previous nights occupants had left. The windows were all open to air it out after a night of a full hut of wet people, and while it was sunny, the cold breeze made it a generally unpleasant place to be.

The first of the people we had left behind at Mangatepopo at 3am started arriving within an hour of us, and soon the weather warmed and I got sunburnt feet from wearing jandals and long johns. The people at Oturere were absolutely lovely, and we had a great night, but the hut itself is WELL too small for the number of bunks it has, with one small laundry rack, a table that can seat 6 at a squeeze and only four cookers to deal with 27 beds and space for 15 more in tents. It also only had one working tap – that hut was ripe for a norovirus outbreak. Thankfully it had a generous deck with several picnic tables and we hit good weather, so most people hung about outside.

Monday morning I woke shortly before sunrise, then missed the best colour of sunrise by being in the bathroom. It was another beautiful one, this time with lots of cloud to colour unlike Sundays clear blue sky. We had a lot of ground to cover (about 24km), so we didn’t dither in bed, but instead started prepping to get up and away towards Waihohonu in good time.

The track between Emerald Lakes and Waihohonu was my least favourite of the entire circuit. I simply found it all hard going and uninspiring. We arrived at Waihohonu fatigued and damp after the days first rain shower came through, and met people who had left before us already departing again after their morning tea break. We stayed for lunch instead.

Stormy Conditions

Waihohonu to Whakapapa is actually pretty good condition track overall. A couple of bits are a bit boggy / old, as if they are still on the upgrade list, but much has been laid with gravel and stairs. In good weather (but not too hot), it would be a rollicking walk with incredible views of Ruapehu, Tama, and Ngauruhoe. Instead, we could barely see anything for the day, which did make it hard to gauge how we were going.

About 1/3 of the way across a sudden storm passed through. The forecast had been for “passing showers, becoming heavy in the late afternoon”, but with 0cm accumulation of rain every 6 hours. We did not expect hail, gale force winds, and torrential rain that had us soaked through on our legs within seconds. Heads down, we kept moving.

The rain didn’t hang around for too long thankfully, and the wind cooled us off. But every time we thought maybe we could put our jackets away, the rain came back. After the second to-the-skin soaking, when the wind turned bitterly cold, we stopped (in the rain) to take off our jackets and add an extra layer – this was hypothermia weather if ever we saw it.

We opted not to go to Tama Lakes, as we were cold and tired and just wanted to get to the end. We rested at the top of Taranaki Falls in some rare warming sunshine before putting our coats back on to keep warm for the last push home across the tops to the village. The moment when we could see the chateau was amazing.

Hot showers at the lodge, cheese and crackers before dinner, an early night and hot pools at Tokaanu the next morning rounded out our adventure.