December 16th Whakapapa Village(690.4)-National Park + road walk Tongariro Holiday Park-Ketatahi Trailhead (707.4) Mileage: 17mi/27.3km Campsite Elevation: 2500ft/762m Today was the Te Araroa shuffle day. The weather for the Tongariro Crossing is perfect for tomorrow,...

December 15th 42 Traverse(679)-Tongariro Holiday Park(690.4) Mileage: 11.4mi/18.3km It was a nice night of sleep last night with brief light rain here or there. We knew the forecast for this morning was that it would be clear, and that heavy rain was expected after...

December 14th Whakapapa River(668.3)-42 Traverse(679) Mileage: 10.7mi/17.2km Campsite Elevation: 1778ft/542m The plan was to sleep in and do a short relaxed day today. Due to weather and logistical timing, we need to go slow to hit the Tongariro Crossing on a...

December 13th Taumarunui(656.1)-Whakapapa River(668.3) Mileage: 12.2mi/19.5km Campsite Elevation: 1142ft/348m First off, I just have to comment that I messed up on yesterday's blog title and I'm surprised no one caught it! It was Day 39, and I always make a Survivor...

December 12th Taumarunui(653.4)-Taumarunui(656.1) Mileage: 2.7mi/4.3km Campsite Elevation: 608ft/185m People ask me all the time why I thru-hike and I always say the same thing. For some reason, when I thru-hike, that is when, for the most extended amount of time, I...

December 11th Mangakahu Valley Rd(634.4)-Taumarunui(653.4) Mileage: 19mi/31km Campsite Elevation: 608ft/185m This will be a short one so I can have time to catch up on things in town and also do some logistics for the next couple legs. It rained on and off through the...

December 10th Waihaha Hut(622.9)-Mangakahu Valley Rd(634.4) Mileage: 11.5mi/18.5km Campsite Elevation: 2122ft/647m It was a great night in the hut. Sleeping in the same room as six other people is always a crap shoot, and this one worked out. Everyone was really sound...

December 9th Ngaherenga Campsite(602.1)-Waihaha Hut(622.9) Mileage: 20.8mi/33.5km Campsite Elevation: 1962ft/598m The birds were up bright and early before 5am and woke me up. I don't know how anyone could possibly sleep through that. I tried to go back to sleep and...

December 8th Mangaokewa River Trail(573.4)-Ngaherenga Campsite(602.1) Mileage: 28.7mi/46.1km Campsite Elevation: 1847ft/563m There was a steady light rain the whole night, so we all did not sleep well. I feel like I was awake hourly. The whole day was pretty much in a...

December 7th Te Kuiti(566)-Mangaokewa River Trail(573.4) Mileage: 7.4mi/11.9km Campsite Elevation: 390ft/119m We wanted to sleep in this morning and decided to have a relaxed leave time from the hostel. Again, it's just crazy how fast town time flies. I was up at 6am...

December 6th Orongo Rd(546.3)-Te Kuiti(566) Mileage: 19.7mi/31.7km Campsite Elevation: 556ft/169m It was a great night of sleep in the wool shed. It was great to be inside because there was a ton of condensation and a low lying fog outside. We left, with Jan and...

December 5th Pahautea Hut(526.4)-Orongo Rd(546.3) Mileage: 19.9mi/32km Campsite Elevation: 1725ft/526m Since we stopped early yesterday, we got a bit of an earlier start today and left just after 6:30am. I seem to have lost my second major item on this trail today. A...

December 4th Karamu Walkway(514)-Pahautea Hut(526.4) Mileage: 12.4mi/20km Campsite Elevation: 2951ft/899m Before I start today's post, I want to mention an important addition to yesterday's post that some of you may have missed. It was added before the email went out,...

December 2nd Oh man, zeros never go as planned, and always go by way too fast. We all wanted to sleep in and that went pretty well. I slept in the best I could and then took the rest of the morning to quietly blog and catch up on some correspondence. At 10:30am, Becky...