After a lovely Saturday of doing absolutely nothing but breaking in my couch by watching an entire 12-episode season of Dexter (great show if you haven't seen it by the way), I felt like I should probably get out and do something active on Sunday. I woke up early and made a few calls to see if anyone was interested in going for a day hike. I got a hold of my friend, Paul from Scotland, and we decided to go hike The Pinnacles. Friends of ours, Chi and Michelle, did the hike a couple of weeks ago and said it was very nice although complained a lot about all the uphill hiking.
The Pinnacles walk is about 1.5 hours away from Auckland near the Coromandel Peninsula. It was a really nice day, luckily not too hot, but a bit humid. Most of the hike up to the top of the pinnacles is right uphill along a bunch of steps carved out of rocks. The person at the Department of Conservation visitors center said there were 1,000 steps to the top, but I'm pretty sure there were a lot more than that. As I sit here writing this the day after, I can hardly walk my legs are so sore. It was ridiculously hard to get all the way to the top, but there were some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains out to the east coast of New Zealand. The hike down was much easier but still a bit rough on the knees. In all, it took about 5 hours which is on the fast side of what we were told it would take, so maybe I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought after all. Although, we did reward ourselves with a stop at McDonald's on the way home where I devoured two double cheeseburgers, fries, and a drink - but, hey, I think I earned it.
The Pinnacles walk is about 1.5 hours away from Auckland near the Coromandel Peninsula. It was a really nice day, luckily not too hot, but a bit humid. Most of the hike up to the top of the pinnacles is right uphill along a bunch of steps carved out of rocks. The person at the Department of Conservation visitors center said there were 1,000 steps to the top, but I'm pretty sure there were a lot more than that. As I sit here writing this the day after, I can hardly walk my legs are so sore. It was ridiculously hard to get all the way to the top, but there were some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains out to the east coast of New Zealand. The hike down was much easier but still a bit rough on the knees. In all, it took about 5 hours which is on the fast side of what we were told it would take, so maybe I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought after all. Although, we did reward ourselves with a stop at McDonald's on the way home where I devoured two double cheeseburgers, fries, and a drink - but, hey, I think I earned it.
View on the way up the trail
View out to the east coast
Crossing one of the suspension bridges - a little unnerving
Taking a break while hiking up all the rock stairs - miserable
Almost to the top - hiking up rocks some of which had metal poles screwed into them that we had to climb up.
Paul - just before we started the direct ascent up to the summit
Me finally at the top
Nate,
ReplyDeleteWhat great scenery. Do you think Mom and I could make it next year? Dad