Mount DOOM!

Well for those who are not familiar with the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, here's some helpful information. The movies were filmed in one big long 18 months of principle cinematography in the fine country of New Zealand. Many of the scenes in Mordor were filmed at the Tongariro National Park. What you may not know about this park is that it is also home to NZ's best one day track (or hike) Of course it is more of a track as in a path than a hike, and a busy one at that. Now part way through the day one finds that they are looking up at Mt Ngauruhoe. Now to many of you this name has no meaning so we'll call it Mount Doom, because it is the same mountain used in the movies.

Now, some of you may be wondering if I climbed it or not. Others know that I did without me telling you but let me put this in perspective. The entire track, without doing Mt Ngauruhoe, is an 8 hour track. The side track up the Mount is a 3 hour return trip. Now since the track is not a loop, we had arranged for pickup on the other side to be there 8 hours from out start time. So my challenge was to try and fit in 11 hours worth of hiking into 8. Those who have seen me on a hike...not many actually...will know that God's given me the, well the proper word would probably be fortitude, or endurance but I think stubbornness would also apply, to keep on trekking and get it done in the allotted time. However since I was with a group of other people less inclined to adopt my pace I felt behind schedule. And so, I did take off from the other to climb Mt DOOM!

What a hike, I tell you what. Volcanic, lose rock and sand (screet). The best place to climb up was along a ridge where the footing was far more secure. Unfortunately, due to my previously explained time restraint I did not climb to the very summit of the mount and peer into the heart of Mt Doom. I did get some cool pictures from the top (posted later) and the best part was still to come.

On the way down, the screet turned from enemy to friend where in you could crouch down, almost sitting on my own heels and slide down the side of the Mount. When that got boring I could leap and slide, leap and slide. It was totally worth the brutal trip up and could only have been made better with a snowboard and snow. Side note, there was still some snow at the top of the mountain, turned to ice now but it was there.

So yeah, the rest of the hike was boring in comparison to climbing Mt. Doom, but trying none the less. The last hour or so was the worst as I could very much feel the energy having already left my legs and with no desire to eat anything more I simply kept plowing forward. Not that good of an idea in hind sight; today I was tired and sluggish.

So I thank God for making me someone who’s stubborn enough to fit 11 hours of hiking into 6 1/2 hours. I managed to meet up with the rest of my group further on down the track and I got to hear about the adventures they’d had together.

All in all a good day.

For those curious, I took with me my camelback with 2L of water, that ran out and I refilled, some sandwiches, trail mix, an extra layer, a toque, shades, sunscreen, a bandana, and a first aid kit. The extra clothes because the weather can change quickly, and the gloves even came in handy on the trip down as the loose rocks were sharp. If anyone’s ever planning on doing this trek, I recommend a decent pair of light weight gloves. Mine were Evo cycling gloves with a padded leader palm and they were perfect.

Oh, and as far as I’m concerned, Sam and Frodo missed out on the best part of Mt Doom, the slide down.