The Tongariro Crossing, Part 2

When you get to the top of the first, fairly gentle incline and then the second, difficult lava-rock scramble, you're in a volcanic crater, which basically feels like a Martian landscape. Some people stop for lunch there, but not us. No, we pushed on, up the next 500 meters, to the peak of the climb, over another crater.

In the pictures here, you see that crater and some pictures taken from about mid-way up the second hill, which is featured in the picture taken from the same elevation as the people on the flat crater surface. If you look closely, you might be able to see the clouds descending to the level of the hike.