Day 43: The 42 Traverse
November 22nd, 2019
Kilometers 1061.0-1096.6
Whakapapa River Campsite-Tongariro Holiday Park
Last night may have been the coldest so far. From about 12:30 on, I used the hood and the front flap on my sleeping bag so that almost none of my face was exposed.
We were up at 7 and our tents were sopping wet from condensation. This was easily the wettest our tents have been from it.
We ate our bars as per usual while we looked over the river with our tents and rain flys hanging up and drying. After we deemed them dry enough, we packed up and crossed the river to start the day on the 42 Traverse track.
It was only 45 degrees when we left camp this morning and we immediately entered the shadows once we crossed the bridge. We were moving extra fast to start just to try to get back into the sunlight.
The track was a 4WD track, which for most of the morning, did not have much to offer in terms of views. We were walking around the side of hills inching our way closing to the volcanoes we would be crossing tomorrow.
The track climbed steadily out of camp up 250 meters over the first 8 kilometers of the day.
From there, we reached a tamping track, which was in decent shape meaning we were able to walk quite quickly. I met up with Alex, Peter, and Matthew at a split in the trail for lunch.
Just after that, I came to a spectacular viewpoint.
We walked another 9 kilometers from that point to the Waoine/Cokers Trail. The sign said 12km in 2 hours 45 minutes, which we were thrilled about. Usually the estimates are really high so we figured the track would be in great shape. We couldn’t have been more wrong.
The trail was a narrow, poorly cut 4WD track, which had been significantly overused.
The first stretch had one of the tire tracks on gravel with the other one in a small stream.
The track got progressively worse as it steepened and the gravel gave way for mud. One of the tracks was so rutted that we were forced to walk along the slippery middle for the 70 meter climb.
The photo doesn’t do justice to how awful the climb along the track was. Every step was a slip hazard and my carefulness made it very slow going.
There were two main river crossings today, both of which were knee deep. For the first crossing, Charlie and I were together and we both took of our socks and shoes. The water was unbelievably cold and the rocks very slippery.
The second crossing was even more perilous. Matthew and I were walking up through a stream unsure if we were on the trail or not and we found Charlie sitting in the middle of a giant stream which our stream fed into.
This river was even higher than the first and the depth made finding a safe route across challenging. When Charlie was trying to get back to the other side, he slipped and was on all fours.
After crossing, we found nothing but more mud for another 5km. Charlie was cursing the mud the whole way to the access road.
We finally reached the road after what felt like an eternity in the mud. Somehow though, Charlie and I had managed to keep our shoes dry. The road gave us the best view of Tongariro and the other volcanoes we had so far.
We left the road for a short trek through fields of yellow flowers and yet more mud. Charlie, frustrated by the mud, took a wrong turn and persisted through it despite repeated attempts by me and Matthew to turn around and go on the actual trail.
We cruised to the holiday park where Alex and Peter had secured a cabin for the evening. We had a dinner of chicken noodle soup with carrots and onions, which ended up being pretty tasty, albeit a bit bland.
The mattress tonight is super comfortable so I’m incredibly excited to go to sleep. We are waking up at 6:00am tomorrow for Tongariro day. My hopes are high.
-Ethan