Tongariro Alpine Crossing

I can hardly walk……………………  

(Here's what happened beginning 7 hours and 45 minutes earlier)

It all began when my husband thought it would be a good idea to go on a 20.5 km hike. Oh, look at me, talking all metrics and stuff! In our speak, that’s just shy of 13 miles. I know the sign says 19.4 km, but somehow over the years more was added. If you google it, you will see that it is touted as one of the top ten one-day hikes in the world. In the world! Well, of course, we wanted to get in on that! 

Basically, you’re walking through 2 volcanoes. (Laughingly, they have a sign on the trail telling you what to do if it erupts. In my opinion, you just kiss your butt good-bye!) Think of the shape. You’re walking up one side, down in the crater, up the crown and then down the other side – twice! Everyone starts out great guns! Look at those happy smiles on our faces.

Although the uphill climb was tough and got a little hairy at times (Sidenote: I’m a bit afraid of heights. I’m gripping the chain below with everything I have!), but it’s doable. After all, you’re still fresh. Here are some pics of our view.

And then you get that great flat area all the way across the crater. Aaahhh

We were told to be prepared for ALL weather and they weren’t kidding! We sweat like crazy on the climbs. We needed our heavier coats for the flats. We needed our rain jackets because it rained on us a couple of times. I took on and off clothes soooooooo many times.

After climbing back up the crown, you have to come down the other side. Not a whole long way. Remember, we still have to cross another volcano. Now, excuse me for a sec while I talk to my kids: Kelli, Kyle, Stephen, Bri, remember our mud slide on that one walk in Costa Rica? While that was slippery and just plain dirty, this one rivaled that because it was a continuous long way down. Ok, back to y’all. It's not like a path you’re coming down. You’re sliding down sand, shale, rocks and volcanic dirt. And I DO mean sliding! I just planted my feet sideways and held onto my husband for dear life! You’re using all your leg muscles like you’ve never used them before! Thinking back, this was probably my downfall, but more on that later.

Made it! One more up, across, up and then down. To put all the ups in perspective, I earned the Waterfall badge on my Fitbit for doing over 300 elevations! You know the law of physics? What goes up, must come down! Now we have to come down the WHOLE other side of the second volcano. 

At least it was a path this time. Path, and a million steps! If any of you have bad knees like me, then you know that the coming down part is way worse on them! With about 3.5 km to go, I realized that my legs were no longer in proper working order! For a little over 2 miles I agonizingly had to do each step one at a time…….instead of like a normal person. It was a veeeeeeeery slow process. Bruce followed behind me. Presumably to catch me if I should decide to flat out pass out from the pain. We had lots of time to talk about things. Things like “what the hell were we thinking!” and “Ya know, I don’t think we'll be doing something like THIS again!”

Aaaaahhhhh finally done in only 7 hours and 45 minutes! I also earned my Hiker’s Boot Badge for getting 35,000 steps!

I should say that Bruce was feeling the hike too, just trying not to complain much because of how much pain I was in. And to add insult to injury, he has almost another mile to walk to fetch the car to come back for me! Needless to say, we pretty much laid in bed for the rest of the evening!

But we have the bragging rights!

P.S. for the ladies: This was the funniest thing to me. Here I am at the end, grimacing with pain and waiting for Bruce and the car. A lady we had seen on the hike passed by and said she was glad I had made it AND my makeup still looked fabulous. Yep, ladies, apparently I am on point with the makeup game! It was the absolute LAST thing on my mind! If you want to know what I use, just ask. 😀