Posted on Monday, 22 December 2014

By the time the bus arrived at the Tongariro National Park drop-off point, I had agreed to do the Tongariro Alpine Trek with a group of Germans. The route might also go by the name Mordor Trek via Mount Doom.

Whilst filming The Lord of the Rings in the year 2000, Peter Jackson used various Tongariro National Park locations as backdrops for Mordor, the most menacing of which was Mount Doom – played brilliantly by the 2,291m Mount Ngauruhoe.

This stunning mountain wasn't really Mount Doom, but it did (and still does) have a sinister edge – in that it might erupt at any time.

And as we set out from Mangatepopo Car Park one sunny March morning, it was the possibility of such an eruption that consumed my mind; that, and the other active volcano about 20km south – Mount Ruapehu.

Mount Ruapehu, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

The plan was to hike for 19km through the heart of Mordor – I mean Tongariro – to another car park, where we would be taken to our accommodation for the evening.

My German co-hikers came with their own high quality hiking footwear and gazed down at my Asics Classics with some scepticism. I assured them these 'little beauties' had got me up into Australia's Blue Mountains and would get me across this volcanic wasteland – 'no worries'. They remained unimpressed both by my footwear and my Australian accent. Fair Dinkum.

The first stretch up to a place called Soda Springs was fairly easy, following the edge of an old lava flow. There was a desolate beauty to the area; the flora gradually changed in species and colour as we moved higher. I tried to ignore the dark clouds forming to the east of us, just behind what we all agreed must be Ngauruhoe – or Mount Doom.

As we moved deeper into Lord Sauron's stomping ground, the going got a bit tougher, although my trusty Asics held out. We clambered up the Devil's Staircase (who needs Tolkien to make things sound menacing when the locals come up with names like this?), which ascends from 1400 to 1600 metres above sea level. To the west we glimpsed the pleasing cone-shape of Mount Taranaki far off in the distance.

After this rough stretch we reached South Crater, just as the clouds behind Mount Doom grew darker.

Following a quick bite to eat, we moved on towards the Red Crater, whereupon the wind picked up and the angry grey sky began spitting on us. I sensed the Germans pitying me for my flimsy trainers and thin jacket; they, by contrast, all had top-of-the-range hiking gear.

Red Crater, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

But just as the spitting turned into real rain drops, I revealed my secret weapon: from my day sack I withdrew the trusty poncho I had bought in Nepal a few months before. It was not your average carrier-bag style throw-away poncho; this was a high quality, mac-like affair – the Rolls Royce of the poncho world. I could tell my German friends were impressed.

The devilishly dark clouds opened up on us, assisted by a heavy wind. As I was buffeted in my long flowing poncho, trudging on in my old trainers, I couldn't help feeling a little bit like Frodo Baggins on his mission to toss the Ring into Mount Doom. This was despite the fact that Mount Doom was now behind us.

In the heavy rain we had to take care as we descended from the Red Crater to the wonderful Blue Lake. To our right, half-obscured by sheeting rain, were the Emerald Lakes – which took their magnificent colour from minerals leached from the surrounding rocks. They would have been a brilliant turquoise had it been sunny – but I was enjoying the moody, dramatic weather: Tolkien would have approved.

Moving up to Ketetahi Hut I had to take care to stay on the track; my trainers were now very wet and, as the Germans had told me, not entirely suited to the boggy wilderness around us.

But the rain eased off and I made it.

Gandalf himself would have been proud of me as I squelched into Ketetahi Car Park in my sodden Asics Classics, Mordor conquered and my German doubters silenced.

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