At the recommendation of one of our professors, we decided
to drive up the west coast of the North Island to see Mount Taranaki on our way
up to Waitomo. Brittany was the first to spot it in the distance about an hour
before we were close enough to get to the roads where we could actually drive
up part of the mountain. If you have never seen a stratovolcano in person
before, they are quite the sight even from far away.
If you’ve been around me much, you would know that as much
as I love seeing the beauty of nature, I’m not much of a hiker. This little
excursion was perfect because we were able to drive up a good portion of the
mountain, spend about an hour and a half hiking where we could see how big this
thing really was and get some nice pictures, and then head back down to the
visitor center for some lunch.
I’ve never really felt intimidated by a piece of landscape
before, but being on the side of Mount Taranaki and seeing how steep the sides
of the mountain get the closer it gets to the summit definitely changed that.
The signs about avalanches and the tunnel that could be used for some
protection in the event of an avalanch were also reminders about the sheer
force of nature.
The picture to the left is so that you get an idea of how big this mountain is. We are nowhere near the summit (we might have been 1/3 of the way up?), and you can barely see us there on the bottom left.
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