Adventure #3: Entering Mordor, and climbing Mt. Doom!

this is a map of our hike
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So after quite a bus ride in order to get here, (We had to change in the middle, because the national service didn't go here.  The bus we finished the trip with was more like a van, and the bus driver, who was quite a character, volunteered to stop at every single lookout so the other tourists could take pictures.  Admittedly, I would get out too...) we settled into our room, which thankfully only had the two of us in it, in a 6-person dorm.  We got some supplies (water, cereal bars, fruit, etc) upon the suggestion of a hiker who had just recently completed the Tongariro Crossing (a 3 or 4 day circuit of the area around Mt. Tongariro) and although I was feeling a bit under the weather with a sore throat, planned on hiking the next day anyway.  The staff here were incredibly nice and helpful, and when we signed up for the shuttle bus to the base of the mountain, they suggested we take with us some complimentary wet/cold weather gear, because unbeknownst to us, it got quite quite cold and windy up there.  We were VERY glad to have it the next day....but I'll get to that soon enough.

emerald lake...what a view.
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When I woke up the next morning, I felt awful, but I pushed myself to get ready anyway, theorizing that if I just convinced myself I was fine, I would be.  We ate a protein packed breakfast, although I was unable to actually finish much of it, and just barely made it in time to catch the shuttlebus.  I was so rushed when getting ready, I entirely forgot to put on my moisturizer, which just happens to have a 15 SPF which I usually count on daily to be my facial sunscreen.  whoops.  Jamie gets a bit of a burn today, and thus looks remarkably like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for a while.  Ah well.

Seven hours, up and back down an approximately 7000ft mountain, with five liters of water, food enough for two days, and only three bathroom breaks. I think we did rather well.

me in red crater....or as I like to remember it...Mars.
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When we got there after a 45 minute bumpy ride out to the site, it was still only 8am, and I was quite chilled.  We started on a largely open plain that allowed for strong wind gusts.  The higher we climbed, the stronger the wind would get until at one point, there were no more plants growing...just piles of rocks everywhere.  In the beginning, it was scrub brush and little rivers snaking among boulders and rocky terrain.  But after a few hours, we got to the base of what is nicknamed, Devil's Staircase.  Let me tell you, it is certainly named that for a reason.  I've done a lot of difficult things in my lifetime.  Written a college thesis.  Read Hegel.  etc.  but this...this was one of the most physically challenging things I have ever EVER done.  You remember the part of the LOTR movies when Frodo and company are climbing up that back entrance to Mordor, and it looks pretty much vertical?  yep.  This may not be that exact film location, but it sure felt like it should be.  I was using my hands almost as much as I was using my legs to propel myself upwards, with a ten pound pack on my back, might I add.  No, it's not really heavy, but I assure you, when you're heaving yourself up a mountain, an extra ten pounds sure seems like it's a hell of a lot of extra, possibly unnecessary weight.

Anyway, to make a long story only kind of long, when we got to the top, we had a spectacular view of things like red crater, (which looked like Mars, truly) and blue and emerald lakes (which were bright blue and green thermal pools) and lastly, on our way back down, we caught sight of what surely must have been the plains of Rohan, curiously on the wrong side of Mordor, but pleasing to the eye, nonetheless.  When up at the top, the extra cold weather gear was absolutely essential, cause the wind is so strong, it just about blows you off the mountain.  If we didn't have the windbreakers, I'm sure Tal and I may have contracted hypothermia up there.

One interesting fact about Mt. Tongariro is that it only has a limited number of bathroom sites (two close to the beginning, and the next a good four hours later, and the last, at the very end of the track, two or three hours after that) and due to a vast amount of water needed to stay hydrated under such extreme hiking conditions, this proves to be an interesting situation at the very least.  Part way across Red Crater, one may spot a particularly large boulder in the distance, the only large boulder in the entire crater, pretty much.  Thinking this might be a good place to sneak off to relieve some building abdominal pressure, I notice that there seems to be a bit of a path I'm following, to get there.  When I get to the large boulder and, after setting Talia as a guard, retreat to the far side, I find (not surprised) that many others have had the same brilliant idea as I, and left little wads of toiletpaper as presents for later visitors.  Wonderful.  So I do as thousands have done before me, and quite relieved, continue on my way.  Talia, unfortunately, has a much more active bladder than I do, and for the final stretch, she finally gave up walking and fully decided to run the rest of the way down the suddenly lush, tree-canopied other side of the mountain.  You'd think in a forest, you'd be able to find another "secret" place to sneak off to, but alas, off the path, the woods were either too sparse, or looked way too much like home to a rather large number of spiders and other wonderful creatures.  Thus, the running.

By the time I finished the hike, and finally caught up with her, I had been hiking for seven hours.  Seven hours, up and back down an approximately 7000ft mountain, with five liters of water, food enough for two days, and only three bathroom breaks.  I think we did rather well.  The bus arrived not too long after that to bring us back home.  I bid you to recall a comment I made earlier on in my journal about how I generally do not take to sleeping while sitting upright, on the flight from LA.  Well, on the 45 minute ride back to Ski Haus, I think I was concious for about five minutes.  Not only did I pass out, but I passed out, enirely squished and sitting in an aisle seat, leaning forward, but not actually leaning on anything.  This is a remarkable feat for me.  I mean, I couldn't sleep in a middle seat on a smooth airplane after not sleeping for 72 hours on my way to Greece, but I could pass out on an incredibly bumpy shuttlebus, while being packed like sardines, and clutching my backpack.  I was THAT exhausted.

We arrived back at the Ski Haus in more pain than I thought possible from a mere hike (felt more like getting hit by a mac truck...) so we went for a little dip in the spa pool, then crashed at the insanely late hour of 8pm.  I think we woke up around 9am, giving us a good 13 hours sleep.  Early that afternoon, we grabbed a bus for Wellington, and said goodbye to one of the most beautiful and serene places we've ever seen.