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Tongariro National Park in NZ's central North Island is the location of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, regarded as arguably the best one day walk in NZ. It is also the location of one of NZ's Great Walks, the Tongariro Northern Circuit. This hike (we call them tramps locally) is a multi-day 38km hike between two live volcanoes - Mts Tongariro and Ruapehu. The route takes one between the two volcanoes and then circles back to climb the active vents of Mt Tongariro and cross it before dropping down to forest.
This photo was taken on the last day of hiking Northern Circuit as it joined the Tongariro Alpine Crossing on one of the blast plains of the volcanic complex. I had climbed up to the plain via a track from the left and the Crossing had just descended from the complex called the Red Crater. The width of the path is between 3 and 4 metres across.
I have done the circuit twice and the crossing four times. Each is different as the complex creates it own weather. On one occasion, in high summer, the temperature dropped 25degC in an hour and went from 100% visibility to barely 50m. Many people take on the crossing unprepared for the conditions and there have been fatalities on a fairly regular basis. Sadly, it has been massively overpopulated by tourists.
