Tephra Canyon, Tongariro NP

Gerard and I yarned away as we descended from Delta Ridge Hut back towards the Top ‘O the Bruce. As Amanda and Joanne arrived at the car park, there was some mention of ‘second breakfast’ and in an instant all four of us disappeared down the mountain towards Whakapapa Village.

Over Pies and coffee’s the other three agreed to tag along with me on a bit of a mystery walk/canyon scouting trip. I’d flown over a likely looking Canyon thingo a week earlier and wanted to try and find it. Although it would probably be mostly loose Tephra, It was worth finding out. Besides, it gave us a goal besides doing a simple walk on a well worn trail. I don’t think any of my northern hemisphere accomplices had any idea what they were getting themselves into, but they trundled along just the same.

First stop was Taranaki Falls. We all scrambled about the top of the falls and marveled at the fantastic demi-canyon chutes that lead to the wonderful waterfall... If only there was more rock of this quality around; there would be canyons all over!

We investigated the bottom of the falls (and behind them) along with a dozen or so other foreign tourists. Wandering downstream aways, I chose to check out another canyoniferous looking spot whilst the others began cross country out to the west.

The reward for my curiosity was a single drop canyon beneath a bridge. Though only 50-70m in length, the fall was quite beautiful and canyon rather impressive. Too bad it petered out so quickly though.

Racing off over the volcanic scrub, I linked up again with my three mates at the base of the ridge we had to climb over. There were a couple of fun ditches to leap over along the way.

Once at the top I scratched my head and began to think of excuses when I spied the entrance.

“Is that it?” Amanda queried.

“It’s a very nice muddy hole Chucky” comforted Joanne.

But I didn’t care… As they rested on rocks near the mouth of the canyon, I raced further on to examine where it began to slot up. My hunch was right, it was only Tephra, but it was hard enough to be down climbable and not dangerously loose...

“Well, are you guys coming or not?” I shouted back...

“I thought we were just here to have a look” was the collective reply...

And so began our impromptu Canyoning trip. No ropes, No harnesses, No helmets, No idea…. Each twist and turn impressed me more and more. Starting only with shallow walls, the canyon deepened slowly and began to unveil the beautiful sinuous walls that I just love canyons for. There was a bit of scrub here and there, but not enough to take away from the fun.

Soon the first of several short down climbs presented itself. Though the Tephra was solid enough to not collapse on us, down climbing required subtlety. My preferred technique encompassed plenty of stemming and butt-sliding, so before long I was covered in Tephra sludge and looking like I was having fun.

My companions were doing well, and with a little spotting from below, were making short work of the canyon. Occasionally I’d hear a startled cry or ‘uh oh’ from ahead. Thinking each time that we’d come to an impasse, I quickly squeezed forward to see only another fun down climb to solve.

There were a couple of really beautiful sections but not long after one such section, the canyon began to get very narrow.

I tried to continue forward, by stemming high and using all manner of dry vegetation at the lip to wiggle my way along. I wiggled to the edge of a drop that just looked a little big to try and down climb without a rope... My buddies had already decided they’d had enough and had scrambled out on the true left and began hollering all kinds of abuse/advice my way.

Though I could see the watercourse had a couple of hundred more meters to go before it joined a regular looking stream, I sensed it was time to call it a day.

We scrambled and struggled our way up the thick scrub covered hillside onto the main ridge. From there it was straightforward to follow the ridge till it met the track back to the Chateau.

I got bundled up by the Poms and convinced that I needed to go to the Pub, so we repositioned to National Park (picking up a tramper hitchhiker along the way). Here we had a couple of Ginger Beers and some yummy Nachos. Dion, Rom et al turned up about 30mins later with the same plan!

A great impromptu adventure with some great new friends!