tongariro northern circuit: mangatepopo hut - oturere hut
Despite my busted/missing gear anxiety, I slept decently enough on the first night of the Tongariro Northern Circuit. When I unzipped my tent, the morning fog was already lifting. I borrowed a lighter to get my finicky stove going, ate some Good to-Go oatmeal, and decided to press on.
I had only encountered a handful of hikers my first day, but that changed quickly. Most of my trek on Day 2 was along the wildly popular Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a point-to-point 12 mile haul that hit some of the most beautiful parts of the Circuit. It wasn’t quite a conga line, but it wasn’t-not a conga line.
This is a very exposed hike with lots of warning signs along the way. (“Tired now? Turn back!”) Confident in my hiking abilities, and bolstered by the perfect weather, I slowly chugged up towards Mangatepopo Saddle.
After an hour and a half of climbing, I was rewarded by a bizarrely flat walk through the South Crater. Huge Mordor energy.
The last push up to Red Crater was the hardest part of the hike. Loose scree + steep incline + many people = lots of breaks. We were rewarded with a perfect view of Mt. Ngauruhoe on a bluebird day.
The trail descended past Emerald Lakes. The scree became sandy. The descent felt more like skiing than hiking.
The wind was a-whippin and stole my hat. Along with it being my favorite, I desperately needed the sun protection. I managed to track it down off trail.
After the lakes, I peeled off the popular Crossing and turned right to carry on with the Circuit. Traffic cut down considerably, and the terrain felt increasingly wild.
two trail pals in the foreground, for scale
I carefully picked my way down the steep, rocky trail. Once I hit a valley, I had an easy three miles to go. And after all of that- the climb to the saddle, the descent in the scree, the avoidance of Orcs- I tripped over my own feet on a flat section and smashed my knee open.
[warning: squeamishness ahead]
The first feeling that came raging in was blinding pain from my shin. I sat down on the trail and cradled my leg, and went on autopilot: backpack off, first aid kit open. I took a peek at my shin, and it wasn’t too bad- no blood, but definitely a major contusion. I was able to poke around it and doubted I had broken anything. A split second of relief followed; I had just banged up a very sensitive area. Then I noticed blood dripping.
[I mean it, this is yucky]
There was a small, but very much not-attached-to-my-body, flap of skin hanging from my left knee. BLARRGHHHH. I was ~12 miles into a 30 mile circuit hike, basically as far away as I could be from my car. Solo. Crap. Crap. Crap.
Of all the adventuring I had done, this was the first time I really biffed it. I rummaged through my first aid kit, but it wasn’t quite up to the task. I was opening up some Neosporin and crying a little when I heard a voice:
“Do you need help? I’m a doctor.”
My luck of the Irish strikes again. There I was, futilely strapping gauze to my knee in the New Zealand backcountry, and a doctor from Salt Lake City appears out of thin air. She had a more legit medical kit than me, notably with steristrips that could hold my wound together. As she patched me up, she told me it would likely leave a scar, and it did; I call it my New Zealand knee. Two years later, I look at it fondly and remember my SLC Guardian Angel… whose name I regrettably failed to catch in my chaos. Thank you kind stranger!!
Once I calmed down and assured the doctor and her husband that I would see them at the campsite, I carefully hiked to Oturere Hut. I fretted the whole way there. I had already been nervous about my last day, which would clock in at over 14 miles. Now I had a busted leg, and 14 miles was feeling VERY far.
I set up my tent and did some relaxing/stressing. I took a look at my knee, and it didn’t look great. But, I knew the only way out was through… or, a helicopter ride. [Which is free for wilderness rescues in NZ, btw! I just didn’t want the Helicopter Flight of Shame].
Hunger overpowered my need to mope. I bummed a light for my Jetboil off of some Germans, and ended up having a fantastic chat with adventurers from all over the globe. Laughing over freeze-dried dinners and watching the sunset over Mt. Nagauruhoe lifted my spirits. It almost made me forget my disgusting ground beef knee. Almost.
where: tongariro northern circuit, tongariro national park, north island, new zealand
when: february//summer in the southern hemisphere
how: department of conservation guide//reservations required at campsites and huts. trail is under repair for summer 25/26
