Tongariro Crossing

Tongariro National Park became New Zealand's first National Park on Sep. 23rd 1887 when a Maori chief donated the land to the people of New Zealand with the agreement that it would remain public property for all time. In 1990 it was listed as a World Heritage Site. The crossing is 10.5 miles with about 3000' of climbing. As it is a through hike, you have to arrange for transportation. We opted to take a bus from Taupo that dropped us off at the Mangatepopo trail head and picked us up 8 hours later at the Ketetahi trail head. At first I was a little stressed due to the fact that we had to go 17 kilometers (at that time I was still trying to remember the conversion so I wasn't sure how far that was), we weren't moving all that fast, and I was not too sure how well Kriss would do on the hike. It didn't take long though to realize that Kriss was doing fine and we would be OK with time. In the end we slowed down to kill time so that we wouldn't have to wait too long in the parking lot and we still finished in 7 hours.




Here you can almost see Mt. Ngauruhoe, the youngest of the three volcanoes in the park which formed a mere 2500 y.a. If you could see it better you may recognize it as Mt Doom from the Lord of the Rings movie. Mt. Ngauruhoe last erupted in 1975.



Red Crater was in my opinion the most aesthetically interesting feature of the hike. It is a scoria cone replete with iron ore, hence the color, that was formed 3000 y.a. The most recent activity in this crater was between 1855 & 1890.



This feature is a dike that formed underground and was then exposed as the crater eroded away.

These are known as the Emerald Lakes.

This is a basaltic lava flow.


In this photo you can see just how much traffic this trail gets. Although not immediately obvious, the ground behind Kriss is vertical. This was a trench dug by many years of hikers using the same trail.

This is one of several mountain valleys that the Track crosses.

Lichen growing on rocks.

Nearly every stream originated at a hot spring and often you would know of its presence in advance due to the steam.

For about the last mile the trail dips below the tree line for the first time and you get to experience a natural Kiwi forest with all of its exotic flora.

Cascadian Adventures

At Carrie and Addie's dinner party last night it was brought to my attention just how lazy I am with my blog. It occurred to me to defend myself by pointing out that I am a mountaineer who specializes in nature photograpy and it is the middle of the winter. Then it also occurred to me that since I have gone to digital I have taken over 15,000 pictures, so I guess that excuse is kinda week. In an attempt to redeem myself I have decided to post some of my favorite shots from various climbs I have done in the past few years...enjoy.

Mt. Shuksan

July 29,2003

This is one of my all time favorite shots. It was taken from the summit looking east into the Cascades. For anyone interested in photography, this is an excelent example of why we should learn the rules so that we can know how to successfully break them. This is what happens when backlighting goes right.

                                                      After ascending a moderately crevassed glacier Mt. Schuksan finishes with a 600' 4th class rock climb. Here we see Gabe and Kevin climbing the final portion of that 600'.

                                                                                                                        What better base camp could a man ask for?

Baker Lake in the background.

    Ruth Mt.

September 2, 2003

"For novice climbers, Ruth Mountain makes a good outing; for all climbers, the route is a good conditioning hike, and an outstanding introduction to and inspiration for the more difficult climbs into the peaks in the adjacent area." This line taken from Selected Climbs in the Cascades has proven to be profoundly true for me. In 1996 I had become frustrated by not being able to find anyone interested in climbing with me. Apparently there are some people who don't get the whole idea of mountaineering? At any rate, I came to the conclusion that the only way I was ever going to get to the summit of a mountain was to do it solo, so in early June of that year I headed off on a solo attempt of Mt. Ruth. That was to be the first of three visits to the summit, in addition to three or four failed attempts. These photos are all from the third successful climb when Kevin, Gabe and myself spent the night in our bivy sacks on the summit.

Base camp on the summit.

This view is to the southwest from the summit, looking at Mt. Schuksan with the Nooksack Cirque on the left, and Mt. Baker in the background on the right.

This fire-red sunset was caused by smoke from an abnormally large amount of forest fires. The bright stripes under the sun is light reflected off the Puget Sound



Gabe

Looking down into Nooksack Cirque.

Ruth from the Hannegan Pass trail.

Picket Range

Tatoosh Range

August 4th & 5th, 2006

Mt. Rainier

Unicorn Peak in the setting sun.

Gabe on the descent of Unicorn Peak.

Kevin nearing the summit of Pinnacle Peak.

Rainier from the summit of Pinnacle Peak with Kevin and Gabe.