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Tongariro National Park Review

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Tongariro National Park

Category: Parks
Location: Tongariro National Park

Fodor's Review:

Tongariro is the country's first national park, established on sacred land given by the Ngati Tuwharetoa people in 1887. A trio of active volcanoes dominates the park. Tongariro, the shortest and least active, has a heavily truncated cone; Ngauruhoe, a single-vent volcano, has a distinctively smooth cone shape. Ruapehu is the tallest (and at 9,175 feet, the highest mountain on the whole North Island), with a longer, irregular snow-topped profile and a large crater lake. It's also the most active of the three. Ruapehu erupted in 1995 and 1996, each time giving little warning before spewing forth ash and showers of rocks and unleashing lahars (the water of the crater lake churned with rock). Luckily, no one was hurt, though the eruptions occurred during ski season. When Ruapehu's crater lake fills up, there's a risk that another lahar will burst through the crater walls. A lahar in 1953 killed more than 150 people as the flood destroyed a railway bridge. This phenomena is now intensely monitored and a similar lahar in 2007, though spectacular, passed without danger to human life.

Tongariro's spectacular combination of dense rimu pine forests, crater lakes, barren lava fields, and birdlife makes it the most impressive and popular of the island's national parks. It has many hiking trails, the most famous of which is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 16-km (10-mi) hike that traverses the mountain, passing craters and brilliantly colored lakes, and is generally considered one of the finest walks in the country. You need to be reasonably fit to tackle it, because there are steep inclines and the volcanic terrain can be punishing on a hot day, also the weather is notoriously fickle. Other hikes in the park range from multiday circuits to short treks of an hour or two.

Whakapapa Village, on the north side of Ruapehu, is the only settlement within the national park with services and is the jump-off point for the Whakapapa ski slopes. The second ski area is Turoa, and its closest town is Ohakune, which is just beyond the southern boundary of the park—take Highway 49, which runs between Highways 1 and 4. Although ski season is the busiest time of year, these towns keep their doors open for hikers and other travelers when the snow melts.

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