Marching Through Mordor: Part 4 of 4

Day Four

With another early morning rise, English muffin breakfast, and a final packing, we jumped on the trail for our final tramp back to Whakapapa village. I was sore, tired and ready to sleep in a real bed; while visions of fast food danced in my head. But first we had a 5 ½ hour tramp across the southern side of Mt. Ngauruhoe. In reality there was nothing really to complain about, this leg of the four day tramp was just as scenic and diverse as the others.

Most of the hike was spent on gently rolling hills through the knee high shrubbery on a well marked and well traveled trail. There were only a few steep climbs to keep our robot-like legs on top of their game. We had met up with another group from the Uni the day before and decided to do the last leg together. In a line of about 10 people with large packs on our backs, I felt as if were a group of nomads searching for the Promised Land.
As a last treat near the end of the tramp we took a fork in the trail to the Traranaki Falls. There is no reason one shouldn’t take this side trip, it takes about an extra five minutes and is a good change of scenery from the continuing shrub land. There is one particular fall that if you climb down from the trail you can wade right into the icy cold pool that is at its base. Or if you so please, you can walk right behind the falls in the small cove behind it, just be careful, the algae makes the rocks very slippery and you’re guaranteed to get a little wet.


We continued on. With about 25 minutes left to walk and Whakapapa village in sight, we fastened our pace due to pure excitement that we were just about to complete a 51 km, four day tramp. The four of us joined back up with each other to share our triumph together. Of course in the last 30 feet two of them, in good 10-year old fashion, suddenly felt it was a race and sprinted to the end.


After completing the trek I felt I had a new found respect for Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee; the friendly hobbits who ventured through Mordor to Mt. Doom without the help of any Nikes, Merrells, Timberlands, or Columbias. And who would have thought that putting on a clean shirt, shorts, socks, and sitting down in a car would feel so good. We had lucked out with good weather and blue skies almost the whole time. This part of the New Zealand is known for it sudden changes in weather, so it’s important to come prepared. We hadn’t showered in four days and drove home with our windows down; smelling like a garbage truck is the price you pay for “roughin it”.