Day Seven January 18, 2008 Friday

I guess the only way to comment on this day is WOW…or maybe OW!!!! We woke up in Taupo and had crumpets for breakfast and quickly packed up the vans. We drove out of the city a ways, maybe an hour and a half. Finally we arrived at our hike, Mount Doom! The hike was roughly 12 miles long, but the first 4 ½ were so steep and rocky that it seriously felt like we were rock climbing rather than hiking. A lot of the out of shape people stayed behind, but I decided to go for it. As a result I ended up being one of the last people back to camp, and a little outside or target time, but I finished it! I can honestly say that I don’t think I have pushed myself harder had a more challenging physical experience in my life! I know that 12 miles doesn’t seem like a long hike, but until you see the terrain you could not possibly begin to understand how difficult it was! There were some amazing views, and it was really cool to see all of the places that they filmed Mordor and the Mount Doom scene. I saw some brilliantly aqua-blue lakes, and a red mountain, plus some beautiful country-side! Despite all the amazing things I saw, I still don’t think the absolute exhaustion was worth it. But I did realize something though, even if the views weren’t worth it, the experience was. I learned a lot about myself today, and I want to think that I grew a lot too. I have never had to convince myself to put one foot in front of the other or push myself so hard in my entire life! The hike took about six and a half hours, so we literally got back to our vans, drove to Palmerston North and set up camp. Now I am so tired that I don’t think my own will can support my body a second longer. I am off to bed because we have to wake up super early tomorrow so that we can get to the ferry on time to travel to the south island. Good night!