Volcanic processes have been building the mountains of Tongariro National Park for over two million years. Three volcanoes (Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu) remain active.
Mount Ngauruhoe is the youngest vent in the Tongariro volcanic complex and first erupted about 2,500 years ago. It is technically a secondary cone of Mount Tongariro. Ngauruhoe has erupted 45 times in the 20th century, most recently in 1974.
Here we are, starting our two day volcanic journey. Most people either do the Tongariro crossing in one day, or do the Great Walk loop which is a 3-4 day hike. We decided to do day 2 of the Great Walk twice - we walked 13km (not including the additional summit walks) to the Oturere Hut one day, and then walked back to our car there next day. This allowed us to see the volcanic stuff twice.
Mount Ngauruhoe, looking fine. Some of you may remember this peak from the famous Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies popular not too long ago. Mount Doom still looks sinister, even without all the computer graphics and makeup.
Lava flow frozen in time.
My fav. picture of the young volcano.
Soda Springs.
The first day we did the side trip to the top of Mount Tongariro (1978 meters). It provided us an excellent view of Mt. Doom just across the crater. (Note: This panorama and the fish eye below are out of order - they should be below the picture of the two of us at the summit.)
Kissing rocks.
Emerald lakes.
Climb to the summit of Tongariro.
We made it! (Note: panorama from above should go here).
The clouds cleared up just long enough for us to get an awesome view.
You can see a clear line where the park ends and the sheep farms begin. There's a road lined with trees. Settlers of Catan, anyone? Trade you some ore for a sheep!
Nothing happening today!
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