We got a bit of a later start on the 4th then what we were hoping. We had a very long hike ahead of us, and didn’t want to get a late start, as we were going to hike to the top of red crater, hiking on the foothills of Mount Doom and then passing just to the side of it to the mountain that splits off from it.
Since we were getting a bit of a later start, Chase and i, the girls headed toward the national Park visitor center area where there was a bathroom they could wash their dishes in.
Once they got back, we all loaded up in our cars and headed over to the parking lots where we were hoping to start our red crater hike.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, after driving maybe 10 km from where we were staying the night, the parking area had signs saying that we weren’t allowed to park there for more than 4 hours at a time. I forget what the ticket cost was for exceeding 4 hours, but seeing that there was a ranger parked just a few stalls away from us, we weren’t in the mood to test whether or not they would actually give us a ticket for being there longer than 4 hours.
So I hatched a plan that I hoped would work. I’d spent enough of my life hitchhiking from place to place that I figured we could maybe shuttle the cars back, leaving them at the trailhead, and then I could drive back to where we were staying the night, and then I can hitchhike back to the trailhead. That was the hope at least.
After a bit of discussion, everyone agreed to give that a try, so we drove both vehicles back to our camping spot, left the van the girls were driving at the camping spot, and made room for them in the back of our little wagon, driving all of us back to the trailhead.
I left Chase and the girls at the trailhead, and drove Sophie back to our camping spot.
From there, I just crossed my fingers in the hopes that I might find someone who was willing to give me a ride back to the trailhead.
I walked along the main highway, but even though it was the main highway, there were so few cars that passed by, that I only really had one chance, and they were not in a good position to pick me up.
So I turned onto the dirt road that led toward the trailhead, hoping against hope that someone would either be leaving the trailhead and wouldn’t mind driving me back to it, or that someone might be getting there for the first time and would be willing to drive me there.
Being several kilometers from where we camped to where the trailhead was, and having no assurance that I would even get a ride, i jogged most of the way, tiring myself out rather quickly with the pack I was wearing.
The first car that I potentially could have gotten a ride with was leaving the trailhead, a couple with a small baby that looked like maybe they were from China or something. I put my thumb out, and tried to flag them down, but they passed me going about 4 miles an hour eyes wide staring at me as if they had no idea what it was that I was requesting.
🙃
Needless to say, they didn’t stop, so I kept walk jogging toward the trailhead, hoping against hope that I wouldn’t have to walk jog the entire way there.
The next potential opportunity I had for a ride was with a pickup truck that was also leaving the trailhead area. It actually happened to be the rangers pick up truck. I flagged them down and asked for a ride, but they said they weren’t able to give me a ride in a government vehicle, unfortunately. So I had to let them go as well.
0 for 2. 😬
I was starting to get concerned that I was going to have to walk jog, with my fairly heavy pack, the entire distance from our camping spot to the trailhead.
😶
But! Nope!
The next car that came along was a big multi-passenger van, with just a single driver and no passengers. The gentleman’s name is escaping me right now, no! It was Fin! He was a professor of geology, a younger gentleman, teaching at the University nearby.
Gratefully, he gave me a ride all the way back to the trailhead, where he was also going to be hiking up to Red crater to meet college students up there and to give a bit of a lecture about the geology of the area, which apparently was one of the best places in the world maybe? To see some pretty awesome lava flows and whatnot. That area had last erupted I think in the seventies, so it was pretty fresh, not much vegetation at all, and lava flows coming down Mount Doom in multiple different places. It was pretty cool.
Well I was talking to him while we were driving, he mentioned to me after my comments about pumice, that the pumice that was in the lake didn’t actually wash down from the mountain into the lake. It actually bubbled up from the bottom of the lake, and that the lake in taupo was actually a super volcano much like Yellowstone. 😎
Super cool.
Anyway, so I got back to everybody waiting for me at the trailhead, and we got on our way. It was definitely more challenging hike than the previous day’s hike. There was a much greater vertical ascent overall, but though we were tired here and there, it wasn’t too bad.
The trail wound around the base of Mount Doom, then up one side of it, before splitting off to the adjoining mountain. One of the fun things once we got to the top was that since this is an active volcano, there were pockets of steam vents. In fact, right at the top of where we were going, even though the wind was blowing super hard just 3 meters higher than where we were, there was a nice little ridge with steam vents blowing hot air and steam out. The ground itself was very warm, so it didn’t really matter that it was really cold wind blowing all around everywhere else. We were all nice and warm sitting on the heated ground with the little steam vents.
Of course, that’s probably not the smartest thing to do, as I suppose the steam vents could erupt super hot steam out at any moment, but well… We didn’t worry about it..🙃
That said, I did have visions of one of the opening scenes from Dante’s peak where the young couple are about to go skinny dipping in a Hot springs, and after they get in, superheated gases bubble up and cook them. 😬
🙃
Don’t worry, neither Europeans nor Americans were seared on the mountain that day. 😁
Chase and one of the girls took a long nap by the steam vents before we all headed down, stopping briefly to make mini snowmen, and for me to make a snow angel in a relatively small patch of snow. We also had ourselves a little snowball fight.
😁
The hike down was relatively uneventful, other than me feeling quite awkward with Chase and one of the girls talking and joking most of the entire hike, and that left little Mr Stephen clam with the other girl, who tends not to talk much at all.
And when I’m in full clam mode, I’m not very good at all at doing anything but holding more serious conversations. And when all clammed up, I’m totally uncomfortable with silence. 🙃
Oops.
I fought through that and made what i think was meaningful conversation. It just wasn’t… light-hearted fun conversation. It was the serious kind, which is fine. It’s just… it was serious because I was a nervous clam, not because the situation naturally called for it, if that makes sense.
Once back to the parking area, we still had to get back to our cars, which were several kilometers away.
I found a car full of French people (one of them being someone i was super attracted to) as they were packing up to leave, and they were kind enough to give me a ride back to my car. They already had five people to squeeze into a very small mini suv, but they still made more room for me, gratefully, driving me all the way back to my car, where I was able to pick it up drive back to the trailhead, pick up Chase and the girls, and drive everyone back to our camping spot.
I haven’t taken many showers on this trip. In fact, I think I’ve only taken just one, at a beach shower closer toward the beginning of our trip.
Gratefully, I’m blessed with non-stinky jeans, so I can sweat, sweat, and sweat some more, which I definitely do. I’m a little ball of sweat most of the time, but gratefully, it doesn’t stink.
I had just washed my hair a couple of days earlier in the river with my biodegradable soap, but they offered to pay for my shower, so I went ahead and joined them at the camping/shower/bathroom place (you needed money on a particular kind of card in order to take a shower, so it wasn’t like just putting some coins in a slot, or paying someone. You actually had to add money to an account, and then use this little device to unlock the shower, or I would have just bought one for myself).
It was funny because it was going to be my first real shower on the trip, complete with hot water. However, the hot water didn’t work out so well, as the first 4 minutes of my 5-minute time shower were absolutely ice cold. At about the 4-minute mark, it sounded like somebody somewhere turned something off, and as soon as that happened, my shower water went hot for the next 30 seconds, and then just warm for the last 30 seconds.
Needless to say, 4 minutes of ice cold water, even with me not directly in the path of the spray, left me cold and shaking, so as soon as I was out of the shower, I went back to the car, fired up the engine, turn the heater on, and tried to warm myself up.
The next day Chase and I were supposed to take the ferry from Wellington across to the South Island because Chase was supposed to fly out on the 20th, and we wanted to have sufficient time to explore the South Island.
Despite having clammed up quite a bit and the resultant discomfort that I felt most of the time, I did enjoy traveling with them. Knowing that we were going to be going our separate ways in the morning, we ended up staying up until something like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning playing games in the back of our little Toyota wagon.
And that was that. That was the day we climbed Mount Doom.
Love and hugs. 😊
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 