Round Ruapehu

G'day! A bit of a long one for ya this time, sorry :)

I've just come back to Hamilton after a six day stint in the Tongariro national park walking around Mt Ruapehu. It's a stunning walk through a dynamic landscape, changing from dense beech forest, to alpine scrub, to desert in no time at all. The quality of the track also varies widely! As you may expect, closer to the small mountain townships the track is a boardwalk highway, however it quickly degrades to muddy ruts and scree scrambles around in the backcountry- much more fun!

A link to the topo map of the area for you to follow along: http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-39.27215,175.590314&z=12
(I started at Whakapapa Village, heading anti-clockwise around Ruapehu.)

I set out from Whakapapa village with Mum and Dad on Sunday the 4th where we had an easy walk through bush, bog and across a river into Whakapapaiti hut. All going well so far.

Photos from this leg:

Grasshoppers everywhere

The second day brought more of a challenge. This leg was posted at an estimated 5.5 hours, which would have been fine, however we took a bit longer -- 10 hours. Mum's boots decided to fall to bits part way through the first leg, so emergency insulation tape repairs were made the previous day, which actually worked pretty well. We all soldiered on through what was, by far, the worst part of track on the circuit which consisted of; bog, washed out ruts, a healthy portion of valley-bashing, and steep downhill rock scrambles. Needless to say we were wrapped to see the Mangaturuturu (previously Whanganui Tramping Club) hut at the end of the day.

We met a group of a couple with two kids that lived just around the corner from us in Hamilton, which was cool. There were also a few French fellas as well as a bloke from Cambridge called Arndt with his two kids James and Christina (highschool age) who were going around the mountain with the same timing and in the same direction as we were, so it turned out that I saw them at each hut from then on, but not along the track during the day.

Photos from this leg:

Mt. Egmont in the background, can't see its white top in this photo.

First view of Ngauruhoe over the ridge

Lake Surprise- a large shallow tarn before Mangaturuturu

Mangaturuturu valley- Cascade falls at the far end.

Waterfall close to the hut.

The next day it was decided that Mum and Dad would abort the full trip and walk out the Ohakune mountain road to get everything sorted out. I was to continue around the mountain and they would walk in from Whakapapa to meet me at the final stop- the Waihohonu hut. This left me to continue by myself for a few days. 

Today's leg involved climbing up out of the Mangaturuturu valley via the side of an AMAZING set of waterfalls called the Cascades, then walking down a couple of km of the Ohakune mt road to the next section of track which lead onward to Mangaehuehu hut. 

My photos of the falls don't do them any justice (my photos don't do any of this park justice- you have to experience it for yourself). They were awesome though. The rock was completely stripped back to the lava flow formation and was coloured a light grey colour, presumably from the minerals in the water. The water was absolutely crystal clear (as with all of the snowmelt streams around the mountain) and pooled at points down the steep rock face. After climbing up out of the valley I hooned down the road for a bit to have a look at a waterfall and some mean swimming holes (to be re-visited), then hitchhiked the last section down to the start of the track. I continued along the initially highway-like track through beech forest and scrubland through to Mangaehuehu hut, with great views of Ruapehu along the open bog/scrub sections.

At the hut I met a hard case group of five Aucklanders coming the other way around the mountain as a part of a mountain skills certification task. I also met another couple from Hamilton here, Steve and Liz, whose son was recently arts captain at Hamilton Boys' Highschool- my old school. Later on a German guy turned up with an extremely light pack. He had walked 11 hours to this hut from Whakapapa village in ONE day, armed with the bare essentials; a sleeping bag, one hut pass, and a lunch box packed chocca with muesli bars. He planned to walk out in 14 hours the next day starting at sunrise, completing the round the mountain trip in two days. Complete nut case, but bloody good on him.

Photos from this leg:

Cascades- track goes up the rocks to the left of the falls, then crosses.

Cascades pools

Random stream swimming hole- Ohakune Mt rd side.

For the winter tourists.

Scroggin  -> Chocolate bar

I had heard a lot about the next hut from the fullas coming the other way. Rangipo is a pretty rugged hut situated in the middle of a particularly harsh exposed desert section around to the south-east of the mountain. After half-an-hour of walking out of Mangaehuehu I popped out of the full-on beech forest into barren pumice desert terrain. The contrast was stark. The barren landscape made for fast pace- the only interruptions being the occasional spring snowmelt river valley. One such valley was more like a gorge (the Aucklanders had called it the 'grand canyon'), with extremely steep descent and ascent tracks along scree scrambles. After bashing my way through that it was a comparatively relaxed meander through to the Rangipo hut. 

Once I'd reached the hut and had a breather an American bloke came over going the opposite way to me. He was a hard case- long dreads, long beard, wearing jeans. Told me he hadn't lived in any one place for over 9 years. No bank account, no phone, nothing but what he was carrying around in his pack and the little he had in his car. Could tell he loves every minute of it too- a true free spirit! He took off, planning to tent further on. Later, Arndt and co arrived, followed by a family from Palmerston North.

Photos from this leg:

Desert begins

The only plants that grow here have pretty flowers

'The Grand Canyon'. Can't quite see the swingbridge down the bottom. 

Alpine butterflies! Their wings flash an iridescent pinky colour. 

Looking up the gorge- swingbridge in the mid-ground.

The 'track' up the other side.

Looking back up towards the hut

The next morning- sunrise @5:40am

Daytime panorama above the hut

Sunrise panorama, similar spot

Day 5 was a relatively easy one, with most of the track being downhill over desert. Towards the end there was a great view from up on a ridge of all three mountains- Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro- all lined up. I continued down the valley to Waihohonu hut, stopping in at the Ohinepango springs (which reminded me a lot of my recent Waihou trip!) along the way.

The Waihohonu hut is more like a hotel, I realised. Gas hob type cookers provided, flash as decks, graveled paths all around. Disgusting ;) . Mum and Dad had walked in from Whakapapa Village that day, so I met them there ready to walk out the following day.

Photos from this leg:

Moving into the lahar channel

Great advice

Smells strongly of sulphur here

Characteristic track around here

Not a bad spot for smoko

Hurricanes supporter grasshopper

Looking back up the valley

The spring source. It surges up from under a rock- ice cold!

Waihohonu view of Ngauruhoe

The walk out back to Whakapapa Village was super easy. The track was fully gravelled the whole way, with steps and boardwalk sections too. It's a part of the northern circuit which is a listed 'Great Walk' so DOC puts A LOT more effort into maintaining these popular tourist tracks and huts. We stopped in at the Tama Lakes along the way back, which gave great views across the saddle in between Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu.

We made it back to the village in good time, and promptly left back for Hamilton where we went out for dinner- my first non-freeze-dried dinner in 5 nights. Needless to say, I ate 'til I could barely walk.

Photos from this leg:

Looking across the saddle at Ruapehu

Lower Tama

Upper Tama - up against Ngauruhoe to the left.

Falls just outside Whakapapa

I had an awesome time out in the backcountry- I can't recommend this trip enough. There are some long days in it, but for anyone that's keen it's well worth it.

Hope this wasn't too boring a read! Thanks for having a look.



- Russell