Traverse Demands Respect

“The Tongariro Crossing is considered New Zealand’s best one-day trek, and one of the best in the world,” Star Tribune reporter Melanie Radzicki McManus writes. “The trail winds through soft alpine meadows and past burbling mountain springs, curves around tiny emerald lakes and offers some of the most impressive vistas you’re likely to see anywhere. It’s partly the pretty, innocuous scenery you pass early on that causes hikers to discount the Crossing’s dangers. Tongariro demands respect, but doesn’t always get it. And that can be a problem. I, for one, was going to take things seriously. Rather than hiking solo, I’d signed on with guide Stewart Barclay [of National Park-based Adrift Outdoor Adventures].”