Mount DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

This weekend I planned a trip where about half the group went on a camping trip to Tongariro park in order to hike Mount Ngauruhoe. Mount Ngauruhoe was used to film Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. On Friday we drove down, which was an adventure in itself. We rented two twelve person vans. The person renting the vans forgot to specify automatic, and we had the adventure of someone remembering how to drive stick the whole way. We stalled once, twice, maybe about 20 times, and probably destroyed the van's transmission, but we made it there without any accidents. On the way there we stopped on the side of the road because a friend let us in on a little secret that there was a spot off the highway to go cliff diving. We found the path leading toward these high cliffs where there were a few locals hanging out. They were nice enough to share their space with us Americans, and we had a great time jumping off the cliffs. It rained all night, it was really cold, the second van got lost and arrived at 11:30, I shared my 2-3 person tent with 4 people, and I shared 3 sleeping bags amongst 4 people. Yet despite all that I had an amazing day. The next day We woke up early and drove to the start of the hike. The hike is 19.4K and 2600ft climb in altitude. It is considered New Zealands best and hardest one day hike. We were not satisfied with this, and decided to leave the path (we were told this is relatively common and were not going to do any harm to the surroundings) and hike to the summit of mount Ngauruhoe (aka mount doom!). The summit is 7513ft. It was so steep, we were literally on our hands and knees at some points. The summit was a huge crater that was awe in spring. The photos do not do the sights justice. The hike past thermal pools that were like jade jewels in the landscape. The whole hike took about 10 hours, and it was absolutely incredible. We saw so many different landscapes. We went from desolate yet beautiful volcanic landscape, to lush hills, to rain forest like brush. I fell asleep immediately on our arrival to the campsite. The next day we went to a natural hot springs in the nearby town, Taupo. The hot springs were to hot to sit in directly, bet they fed into a larger river. We laid in the shallow bank, enjoying the changing currents of hot and cold water. The perfect end to a hard weekend. Note in the picture where you can see a large lake in the distance: the picture is from the top of the mountain, and we hike to that lake and beyond. Also note the picture with three other girls, because they are my roommates!