Tongariro National Park in the interior of the North Island of New Zealand. Photo taken from the summit of Mt. Tongariro (6,456'). In the foreground is Mt. Ngauruhoe (7,516') and in the background is Mt. Ruapehu (9,177'). Mt. Ruapehu is home to the largest ski field in N.Z., Whakapapa, whose terrain can be seen in the photo. A second ski field, Turoa, is situated on the southwest facing slopes of Mt. Ruapehu and is not featured in the photo. After descending from Mt. Tongariro, we climbed Mt. Ngauruhoe and then mostly circumnavigated the crater, looking for the safest route in. Once finding it, we downclimbed quite a ways into the crater, did some minor exploration, climbed back out, completed the circumnavigation, and descended back down to the track (trail) we were tramping (backpacking). It was our intention to climb/summit Mt. Ruapehu too but it was not permitted due to the fact that authorities felt an eruption was highly likely/imminent. Sure enough, it did erupt several weeks later. Instead we backpacked all the way around Mt. Ruapehu and ended up back at Mangatepopo where we had started several days earlier.
