Mini-Hike: Desert Road to Whakapapa Village via Waihohonu Hut

On boxing day last year (26/12/2015, for those unfamiliar with the term) I had planned with my sister and brother to do the walk from the Desert Road across to Whakapapa Village (where the historic Managatepopo walk started all those months before), walking between Mounts Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe.

Originally I was wanting to do an overnight walk by myself on Boxing day, starting at Whakapapa Village and walking to the Waihohonu hut, overnight there, then walk back.  But the hut was mostly fully booked by the time I came to look at it, so changed plans.  We chose to walk this direction because, as a one way walk, we would need to be dropped off and picked back up, and going this way meant we were walking towards cafes rather than away from them.

The route was long, and the day was really hot.  Although I packed in about 2 litres of water with me, by the end of it I was starting to worry I would run out.  But didn’t.

For the most part this track was beautifully well maintained.  A good distance of it is also a well-used track to the Tama Lakes which is a popular tourist walk about 5 hours round trip from Whakapapa Village.  It was nothing like the Mangatepopo track which even the DOC ranger we spoke to said was terrible. She was saying that it needs to be completely rebuilt as it is too far gone for maintenance to fix it.  I am glad I am not alone in my appraisal of that track (I was worried I was just a fat whiner).

Track Start

There is not really much to say about the walk itself, as it was completely drama free.  And let’s face it, it is the drama, whining, complaining, and general moaning that make these blogs remotely enjoyable.

Walking with my brother and sister was interesting.  I did get a perverse joy from hearing the few complaints that they made.  Mostly my sister was grumbling that I didn’t stop for a rest often enough (I did every hour, thank you!), she has relegated me to the same position held by her husband in the “walking without stopping” ranks, which I kind-of take as a compliment.

Andrea at Waihohonu Hut

I also took a great deal of satisfaction on seeing my brother struggle with the up-hills.  Historically my brother has always been fitter and thinner than me, although he has let himself go . . . a lot . . . in the past couple of decades, he is probably still fitter, and he is definitely faster at walking than I am.  But looking back and seeing him doubled over with his hands on his knees on some of the longer up-hill stretches was immensely satisfying.  Does that make me a bad person?

To add insult to exhaustion there was a side trip (10 minutes each way) to the Lower Tama lake which I wasn’t that keen on doing as we walked the four hours from the start to where the track diverts to Tama Lakes.

Lower Tama Lake

However when we did arrive at the junction I was a slight bit ahead of my siblings (we had just walked up an incline and they were recovering while I walked on) so I waited there for them.  When they got there we had a discussion about whether we should do the side trip.  They were dead against it, so now I really wanted to do it.  So they waited there and I walked to the lakes.  It was awesome.

So I was fairly well pleased with how that walk went.  I believe it is the single longest walk that I have ever done, clocking in at just over 25 km (taking about 6.5 hours) it is easily longer (distance wise) than anything that I will encounter on the Milford Track (the longest day on that walk being 18 km).  This walk also demonstrated to me how far I have come since March 2015 when I first started on this endeavour.

Hike Selfie