Tofua


The DC-3
The trip to Tofua started out with a ride on the Crown Prince's Airline, which is operating with 2 DC-3s. For those that don't know - I didn't - a DC-3 is the type of plane used during WWII to bomb Germany by the allies. This was one of those planes. At almost 60 years old, apparently it's still worth something. Although I spent much of the flight eyeing a loose screw near the engine that put thoughts of crashing and swimming to Ha'apai in my head, we made it safe and sound. Ha'apai is the group of islands north of the main island that I live on. The islands of Ha'apai are what most people think of when they think of the South Pacific. Uninhabited, coconut trees leaning towards the water, endless sandy beaches, beautiful topless women - wait, maybe not that last one, but still, it's quite a site. I was greeted at the airport by a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer and we hitched a ride to town to meet up with everyone else. Spent my morning in the main village of Pangai helping the other Volunteers move the Peace Corps Office to a new location and then spent the remainder of the day hanging out and getting last minute preparations taken care before the early boat ride the next morning.

Sunrise in Pangai
5am rolled around quickly but we got up, packed, and walked down to the wharf. On the way there we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise coming over the backside of the island. We took it as a sign of good things to come! The 13 of us - 7 Peace Corps Volunteers, 4 Australian Volunteers, a local Australian who owned Pangai's main eating establishment, and a European women who was in town visiting a friend and chose to come along - along with a crew of 6 set out on what was said to be a 5-7 hour trip to Tofua. Tofua and its sister Kau are two huge volcanic islands (active and dormant respectively) that rise to heights of 500m and 1100m. On a clear day both are visible from Pangai but are near the western border of Tonga.
Tofua and Kau from Pangai
Tofua is a 5 mile wide crater with a 250m deep fresh-water lake in the middle whose surface in not far above sea level. With steep cliffs rising from the ocean and falling back down into the lake, the rainforest that covers the inner walls are said to be the largest virgin rainforest in the South Pacific. Within the massive crater there are 2-3 smaller cones that jet out of the northwest portion. Only one of these cones is still active and is continuously smoking and can often be heard rumbling when on the crater edge. Tofua is also where Captain Bligh was cast adrift during the famous Mutiny on the Bounty in 1789. There are few, if any, people who live on Tofua and it is mainly used for growing Kava which many locals regard as the best Kava around. There is also a story about a guy who used to own a sea-plane and had crops of marijuana growing within the crater. He'd fly his plane into it, land on the lake, harvest the crop, and bring it back to Tonga where he'd ship it off for huge profits. The government eventually found out about this and supposedly came in and torched the crop. This story would soon cause us to make a poor decision in the days ahead... Kau, conversely, is a huge cone that jets out from the ocean to over 3400ft. very quickly. It is totally covered in bush and to make it to the top is something that is not at all pleasant (from what we were told) as you spend most of your time/energy trying to get over/around/under/through the thick vegetation. A few on the trip mentioned they'd like to try to summit it anyway, I thought we'd play things by ear, and see how Tofua went first.

We ended up pushing off from the Pangai wharf at about 6:20am with very calm seas and a big, bright, beautiful, blue sky (Gerry Wolf once told me all good things begin with the letter B...). Everyone seemed to catch anywhere from a few winks to a couple hours of sleep on the way out there. Aside from quick nap, I spent most of the trip watching the small islands slowly come into view, reach our side, and fall behind us. The boat was a descent size of about 40-50ft that was said to hold 50 people. Although I could see 50 people and with no luggage fitting on the boat, I was glad there was less than half of that actually there. The hours rolled by; at first Kau, and eventually Tofua appeared and grew larger in front of us. I thought we might see some whales on the way out with my eyes especially perked when a large flock of birds seemed to be circling and diving at what must have been a large school of fish, but none were seen. The final third of the trip, which is when we left the comfort of surrounding islands and reefs was supposed to be the roughest, but we lucked out with no swells and a smooth ride the entire way there. Because of the great conditions, we made it there in 5 hours flat as we pulled up near the northern coast of Tofua just before 11:30am. We had been pulling a small boat with an engine and we all now realized why as there was no wharf and we needed some way to reach the shore. With Kau towering behind us a mile or two away, about half of us piled into the little boat sans bags for the short ride to shore. As we pulled away from the Pako (the main boat), a small group of dolphins greeted us and swam by. Just another reason to smile... And then, the adventure began.

Our landing site - to the right of the pole
Tofua has no beaches, and even with calm seas, which we had, the waves still pound the shore to the point that you wouldn't want to be in the water when they hit. Lava flows made up the rock on the edge of the island and our captain found a point where there was a bit of rock the jetted out so that we were 10-20 yards from the waves crashing against the shore, but with low enough rock to jump out of the boat up to it. We reached these rocks and one of the Tongans hoped out easily to hold a rope attached to the boat to try and keep it steady. With each wave, the boat rocked up closer to the level of the top of the rocks and banged against the side of them. With each lull between waves, the the top of the rocks loomed at or above eye level. A couple people jumped up and out with each wave until there were only about 4 of us left in the boat. Then a wave came through that pulled the boat down and trapped the edge under a rock. The next wave that came through tipped the boat up on its side and we began to fill with water.
Karen becomes the first casualty
The Tongans were able to push the boat away from the rocks before we were totally submerged but the top of the boat was about 8 inches from the water. On the next wave, I decided it was time for me (and the camera in my back pocket) to get out of the boat. I stepped up and out without too much hassle. The captain was yelling at Karen to go too, and she does, but about a second too late, because as soon as she commits to the rocks with her upper body, the wave - and boat - falls away and she's left hanging there yelling at me for help. A couple of us grab Karen's arms, hips, and eventually her legs and pulled her up onto the rocks, but unfortunately these rocks were covered in barnacles and her legs got torn up. The boat slowly pushed away and returned to the Pako to get buckets and bail out the water in the boat. After a minute or two of bailing and mopping, they returned with the rest of the group which went a bit smoother with some of us on shore to help steady the boat and help people off. One more trip by the Tongans for all of our stuff and a chain of people got everything ashore. Just as soon as the last bag went up, Trevor (the restaurant owner), slipped on the wet rocks and got a deep gouge in the front of his shin which proceeds to gush blood immediately. He wasn't so much bleeding as much as it seemed like somewhat had tapped his shin and turned the valve on. I immediately opened my bag, got out my first-aid kit and tell Trevor to sit down. He tried to tell me he's OK, I disagree. An inch of gauze with antiseptic cream and half-dozen wraps around the leg with the medical tape seemed to stop the bleeding and we all then began to carry our stuff from the rocks up onto some more forgiving land.

Where we landed turned out to be a choice camping spot. Trevor, Elizabeth (European women), Ben, and Sue (Australian volunteers) decided they're going to set up camp there for the night. I wanted to go to the top, Bill says he's coming with me, and eventually we get the rest of the group to agree to come as well. We all had a small bite to eat, I attempted to climb a small coconut tree to get some green coconuts to drink (somewhat successfully), and a few people go looking for the rain water tank that is supposed to be near by.
Coming down off the coconut tree
The explorers came back to say that there's a trail that leads up to an old building with the rainwater tank about 10 minutes away, and then continues from there up the mountain. We all put on our hiking shoes (ranging from Teva sandals to hiking boots), and began up in the early afternoon. We stopped at the tank to top off our water bottles as we couldn't foresee any access to water at the rim. From there we went up, and up, and up. The trail was a very narrow footpath of crushed bush that basically leads straight up the side of the hill. Joe lead the group with frequent stops which were appreciated by most, if not all.
Bill, Sena, Michelle, and Amy taking a rest
I started to feel blisters forming on the back of my heels about half way up the mountain and during one of these breaks, I took off my shoes to tape up the affected area in hoping to avoid further damage - it wouldn't do enough. As we went farther and farther up, the views of Kau became more and more spectacular as instead of looking up at it we are looking out at it. This, combined with the bush below us and the ever shrinking Pako was making me anxious to get up to the rim. Finally, at a rest stop most of the way up, I couldn't take it anymore and kept going. A couple of others were anxious as well and we make one last dash to the top. The view was spectacular. Kau no longer seemed real but like someone has painted it behind us. Michelle and I dropped our bags at the top and tried to get to the other side of the rim to look down at the lake. We did a poor job of it and got stuck in some tall bush though. I ran back so as to get pictures of a couple of the girls making it to the rim. Sena yells at me for doing so, I tell her that her mother will thank me for the picture later. When she saw it she agreed :-)
Kau from 1/3 of the way up 2/3 Another break
Amy making it to the top Cat and Sena making it to the rim Joe at the top
A panaramic inside of Tofua


At the top of the rim
Joe and Michelle found a much better way to the other side of the rim and it produced an amazing view. Comments such as "this is the coolest thing I've ever seen" were not uncommon. The midday lighting allowed for some nice shots of people overlooking the lake and its surrounding rainforest. We could see the smoking, active volcanic cone to our right and a sandy slope that ran down from it to the waters edge. Down near the lake the earth seemed to get very black and we thought that is where the pot crop must have been burned down and the scorched soil is all that is left - how wrong we would turn out to be. After enjoying the view for a bit and taking a few photos, we went back to our packs and decided we needed to find a good spot to camp. As others set out to do this, Michelle and I headed back down the mountain to try and help Karen and Kirsty with their packs as they were going at a much slower pace. We quickly ran into Ben who had decided to make an afternoon trip to the rim with his camera/water and return to the base camp that night. He was carrying Karen's bag and told us the girls had veered off the trail at some point and were a ways back. Michelle and I found them about 10 minutes later, took their packs and we all made it to the top about 30 minutes later.

The camp on the rim
At the top, the rest of the group had a nice camp set up, a fire pit made, and a nice stack of dry wood to cook with. We set up our tents, kicked back, shared some snacks, and started cooking dinner over the open fire. Big Al would've been proud at the quickness in which we had a nice bed of coals and a sturdy set of wood in which to set the pots on. Dinners ranged from plain rice, to crackers with cheese, to pasta with veggies, depending on who was thinking the best when it came to packing food (I'd give Kirsty the award for that). Soon after dinner we were treated to a gorgeous sunset that we were able to see fall through the Pacific through a dip in the crater rim. The cameras were rolling as we all seemed to take an absurd amount of pictures of the same thing. It was pretty nice though with lots of bright oranges and some reds, all the while the active cone smoking and gurgling down below us. After the sunset we went back to the camp and stoked the fire. Bill broke out a bottle of locally made Pirates Whiskey. A quick side not on the Pirates Distillery. This is a company based up in Vava'u that makes a variety of fine liquors including Gin, Rum, Whiskey, and Vodka. The problem with all of these is none are actually any of what they claim to be. The company simply makes alcohol and then adds the appropriate amount of flavoring to it. I kind of picture the factory like a big fountain drink machine they have at the bars. Instead of mixing carbonated water with the different syrups (Coke, Sprite, etc.), they simply mix grain with the appropriate flavoring in each bottle. What results is a harsh drink (especially when taking bottle shots - as we were) with a sweet, sugary aftertaste. As far as good is concerned, it's not. Despite this glowing description, Bill and I couldn't find many others to help us with it, so the two of us polished of about half the bottle before calling it a night. Right before we went to bed, we noticed that there was a sort of glow coming from the active volcano cone. We walked up the small hill above the camp to take a better view and saw that the smoke coming out of the cone was glowing right above the cone's rim. It was a very cool looking thing. Black all around, but like someone was shining a light from the bottom of the cone up into the air to illuminate the smoke as it rose into the night sky.
The sunset with the smoking cone Bill and I looking in a big hole on the rim The beginning of the sunset
Amy, Kirsty, Karen, Bill, and Cat Gorgeous and gone...
Silouttes at sunset


For sleeping arrangements I (as did most others) slept on top of my sleeping bag for a bit of cushioning (basically none) while Bill slept on the mother of all Therma-Rests. I think it was about 3 inches thick fully inflated which sort of made camping more like sleeping at home (it actually was in Bill's case since it was what he used for a mattress in his bedroom). You could lay on your side with this thing and not be touching the ground. Bill slept like a baby while the rest of us tried endlessly to find comfortable positions throughout the night.

Sena was up early to watch the sunrise while the rest of us slept in to around 7. We got up, made breakfast, and decided we'd head down to the lake to go for a swim and fill up our water bottles, which were just about out. From where we saw the sunset, it looked as if
Bill crab-walking down from the rim
we could walk over to above the active cone, walk down along the edge of the vegetation, and then make our way down the lava flow below the cone to that extra black fertile soil where they burned all the pot to the lake (see map near the bottom). Seemed easy enough. We started off across the rim to towards the active cone. About 3/4 of the way there, some people decided it looked easier to cut diagonally through some bush over to the sandy/rocky area. I felt like the original plan was good so went with Bill and Amy as planned. It was a steep decline along the edge of the vegetation down to above the cone, but it went painlessly. We got down to where we said we'd meet and couldn't see where anyone else had gone. We yelled, they called back, saying they were in some pretty thick bush but were still coming. Then we saw Sena and Michelle come up out of it, start to climb up, and come over and down the way we came. Amy, Bill, and I all kind of hung out and watched people make their way down pretty happy with ourselves in the direction we took. About a half hour later, Joe, Cat, Kirsty, and Karen emerged from the bush, traversed a small canyon, and made it up to where we planned to meet.
Bill and Amy waiting for the rest of the group
While we were waiting, Bill and I were discussing the possibility of going up to the edge of the active cone to take a look inside. He told me that he had met some volcanologists some weeks ago that came to Tofua, went up to the edge of the cone, and decided it was too dangerous to stay to do their experiments as there were rocks up there that were not too old (i.e. the volcano had recently spit them out). As curious as I was to look in it, the fact that professionals were not willing to spend time up there made think better than to let my curiosity get the best of me. All together again, we walked up to the edge of a high cliff that overlooked the cone and marveled at the fact that everything immediately surrounding us looked as if we were on Mars. As we were talking, enjoying the view, Michelle wandered off down the right side and I eventually made my way after her. When I got down to where she was she pointed out the cliff below was scalable if we wanted to get down to the base of the volcano. I told her what Bill had told me - she wasn't phased. I believe her words were "Whatever, I still want to look in it." She went back up to get her bag and more support and by the time she got back the entire group - including Bill - was ready to maneuver the cliff, and then head up to to rim of the active cone. Why not, right? So, we made our way down the face of the cliff, through a small water channel to the base of the cone.
Looking up the red sandMichelle and Sena making it down
As we're walking up to it, I say to Bill, "when we hear it rumble, we should try to head up as quickly as possible, look in, and head back down." No sooner had I finished my sentence then the volcano let out a slight belch. Bill and I took off sprinting up the cone to the top. As we reached the top, with every step we saw farther down, but could still not see the bottom. Upon reaching the very edge (which I took on my stomach - not trusting my own balance), there was a collective - "Holy Sh!t" It was sort of like that scene in Animal House when Flounder shoots the horse with the gun full of blanks. It was the only reaction we could muster. The bottom of the cone was a good 100 ft below us (we had probably walked up about 30 vertical feet from the base of the cone), straight down. And at the bottom of this cone was a hole that lead into the center of the earth - we were looking into a hole of magma. Now, I had seen magma/lava on TV, and it usually was accompanied by people in space suits. Here we were not more than 100 ft. away staring right down into a hole that led into the center of the earth. There were a few more rounds of collective "Holly Sh!t" between the two of us, before the volcano decided it needed to pass some more gas. I didn't even wait to look and took off booking down the side of the cone. When I realized that everyone else was still coming up and Bill was still standing up there, I dragged my tail between my legs as I gathered my nerves to make it back to the top. Everyone else had the exact same reaction as Bill and I. Holly Sh!t. Holy Sh!t. Holy Sh!t!!!! There were nervous giggles, lots of pictures, and about 5 minutes of just staring down at it. It let loose a few times while we were standing there, each time shooting little globs of lava a few feet in the air. All I could think about was that at any moment it could decide to spit some lava just a wee bit higher and smack one of us in the face. I couldn't see a face full of lava being too nice. I headed down to the bottom soon after as I didn't want to roll the dice too many times.
Cat, Sena, and Amy checking out the active cone up close Heading down the cliff towards the base of the active cone In a small canyon leading up to the cone
Looking back up at what we came down Looking down into the active cone The hole of magma up close
A vertical look down the cone - that's about 100 ft or so I was there The group making their way back down from the top of the cone


From there we followed the plan from the morning to follow the lava flow down to where we thought the pot plantation used to be despite a few people suggesting it looked easier to make it down to the lake on the other side of the active cone. The walk down was nice, easy, and cool looking. The terrain was this hard sand that felt like there wasn't much underneath it but it was strong enough in most cases to support our weight. We walked/stumbled our way down to what we thought was the black fertile soil that once was the base to a very large drug plantation. What we found couldn't have been further from that. For all those Tolkein fans out there, remember when Frodo and Sam leave the Fellowship and begin there journey over the mountain peaks with rocks that were as sharp as nails? These were those rocks. To best understand these rocks, I want you to follow with me in this creation of a mental picture. Start with a oddly shaped, black rock, that is not round, square, or anything else that could be described as a normal three-dimensional figure.
Bill going across the rocks from hell
Then, make believe that each edge of that figure is extremely sharp. So sharp in fact, that whenever you brush the side of a shoe against it, it rips a little bit out of the sole. Then, on each surface between all these edges, imagine many short, sharp spikes that stick out in lots of different angles so that if you try to grab a hold of one of these rocks, it rips a bit of skin off your hand. Now imagine a field of these rocks in all kinds of shapes and sizes that cover an area roughly the size of two football fields placed next to each other. On top of this, imagine that every time you step on one of these rocks it moves. Even when you step on some of the bigger, bolder looking ones, they still move so that you can never have any sense of balance. Now, you might say to me - JK, what about a big flat rock, physics wouldn't allow that one to move if it's on top of a lot of smaller rocks. If you said that to me, I'd say you were correct, but in the case of these rocks, they would crack in half when you stepped on them. This was the rock field from hell, and this is what we had to cross to reach the lake. Not a lush field of black, volcanic soil, but waves of these piles of rocks where you'd always be either trying to balance on a small ridge, making your way through a trough, or going across the grain up and down over the ridges and troughs carved out by the flow of water over the years. Now, add to this that everyone is completely out of water in their bottles and all we want to do is get to the lake because there is not a cloud in the sky and with the sun radiating off the black rock, it feels like it's about 100 degrees (40C) - and that's not a dry heat. So, over we go, making our way carefully along, trying to get to the lake, all the while our hands, feet, shoes, and legs getting thoroughly sliced up. Amy and I finally reach the end of it after about an hour on them to discover that it's about a 15 foot drop into the lake with no shoreline. So, back over the rocks in a different direction to find a bit more of the same. We go along the rock/water edge until we find a place that looks like we can climb down. We get down, take off our shoes and jump in. Swimming, dunking our heads, gulping the fresh lake water as we go. It feels great. Unfortunately, as I do this, all the tape that covers my blisters starts to come off. Most of the rest of the group makes it down OK, with water needed to be brought up from the lake to get the entire group down to its edge.

Mars meets the rainforest
After a nice swim and a bit of a lunch, we start to talk about how we're going to get back up since it is at this point about 2pm and it took about 2-3 hours in walking time to get down. Since the sun sets at 7, we needed to think about going. Trevor (who with Ben had walked up in the morning for a day trip down to the lake and then back up and down to the base camp) tells us that the group last year came down to the lake from the other side of our campsite. From the lake, we see a ridge line that looks as though it is rainforest about half way up and then a clear shot to the top from there. The biggest problem is to get to where we think they might have come down (and even camped for a couple nights), we would have to swim across an arm of the lake to get to that point. Since most people have cameras, this doesn't seem very doable. Ben and I go exploring to try and see if there are any other options while Trevor takes off on his own looking for a way up. In getting up above the lake a bit, it seems as though the bush is pretty thick at the bottom, and that we took the worse possible way across the rock field. To scoot around the edge of the rocks to get back to the sand below the cone looks like it will only take about 30 minutes or so. I decide I'm going to go back that way as I can see where I'm going and I know how to get back. Although swimming and going up the ridge may have been easier and was probably a shorter distance, the uncertainty of it got to me. Ben and I went back to the group and I told them what we saw and that I'd be willing to take everyone's camera if people wanted to swim. We ended up splitting into two groups of 5 with Amy, Joe, Michelle, and Cat deciding to brave the rocks with me again while Sena, Bill, Ben, Kirsty, and Karen opted to swim and try to find a path up the ridge.

Amy and Michelle coming back up
Everyone had food and plenty of water (but no flashlights) as we began. The rocks seemed a bit easier as there wasn't as much up and down as we tried to stay on the edge. A couple times we looked back to see if we could cut over to where the other group was going to swim to, but decided to keep going along our intended route. Right near the end of the rocks, I climbed up on small moundto see how close we were. As I turned to see where others were I lost my footing and took a hard fall, cutting up the side of my left leg, my elbow, and my left hand. I used the rest of my gauze, the rest of my tape, and resorted to toilet paper and a rubber band to try to stop all the small cuts from bleeding too much. After the self-administered first-aid, I made it to the end with the other 4 waiting for me. Aside from the 10 minutes or so I needed to doctor myself, we all made it out in about 30-40 minutes. We were all happy to be through with that. The next bit was easy as we had a gradual uphill to the base of the extinct cones. On the way up I noticed Cat was having a bit of trouble with her pack - the straps were a bit broken, so we stuffed the 4L of water and other nic-nacs into my bag. At first it didn't seem too much heavier (I had 3L of water and a lot of cameras among other things in my pack), but it would soon get the better of me. After the gradual incline we had two very steep inclines to tackle, neither of which had much in the way of foot holes, although they both had a rough surface that made for solid grip. By the second steep incline I had to take about 5 breaks to make it to the top. I didn't want to admit it, but the pack was heavy. 7L (about two gallons) of water weighs a bit... Another gradual incline in front of the volcano where we had met up that morning and up to the last steep bit to make it to the rim. As we had come down along the edge of the vegetation we tried to go back up that same way. Somehow we didn't and took a line that went up more than over and soon we really couldn't get over to the vegetation anymore, we just had to keep going up. By this point my left quad had started to get slight cramps in it with every step. The girls took one path up, I followed Joe up another. It took everything in me with both quads starting to cramp to make it up to the last little cliff before the top. Once I got up to there I was able to rest for a second and have a drink before trying to scale the 8 feet of rock wall in front of me. It didn't look like too tough of a climb until I reached up to grab my first handhold to find the rock peel away from the mountain. Going across the mountain was too treacherous, so I opted to go down a few steps and try going around the cliff below. Clinging to thick vegetation, I made it around and use what's left of my legs to push myself up the last little bit. I get to the top, both quads fully cramping to Amy saying "You could've answered when I called." Not that I was listening, but I didn't hear a thing on the other side of the rock lip. I slowly tried to follow the rest of them and drink water, trying to walk off the cramps along the top of the rim back towards the camp site. I made it a fair way before my legs couldn't take it anymore and I had to sit down. I'd never had cramps like this and I wasn't sure what to do. They just wouldn't stop tightening up. Cat saves me by mentioning maybe I need some salt. I pull out my GORP, grab a handful that is plentiful of peanuts, wash it down with some water, and 30 seconds later, I can walk again without pain. Well, let me correct that, without pain in my quads. Pretty much every step of the way up from the lake has felt like someone has taken a knife to the back of my heels due to the blisters. My feet are not happy with me.

Back up on the rim
Cat and I make it back to camp to find Amy at the fire and Joe and Michelle out on the ridge trying to see if they can see the others. It's about 30 minutes until sunset and they are no where to be seen. I say I'm going with my headlamp along the ridge to where I expect them to come up so they will have a light to come to. I get talked out of it as it won't do them much good and I'll probably just be stuck out there.
Red: Up to the rim
Green: Down to the lake
Yellow: Back up
Blue: The other group's track up
We decide that if it was us and we were stuck in the woods after dark, we'd just sleep there and wait until morning. So, we decide to make dinner, and hope they are doing ok. In the middle of our eating (about 30 minutes after the sun set), Trevor shows up thirsty, hungry, and exhausted. He says that he heard them coming up behind him but they are a ways back. He decides to stay with us (as opposed to hiking down to his tent), and crashes in one of our tents soon after finishing eating. We all decide there really isn't anything to do, and despite being able to hear them at one point, they wouldn't respond to our calls, so we went to bed. About 2 hours later (10:30pm), we are all awoken by their voices calling out for us to come and get them. We all jump out of our tents with lights and head in their direction. Trevor beat us all to the punch and had heard them about 5 minutes earlier and went out with the flashlight looking for them. The all finally made it back to the camp 14 hours after having left it earlier that morning. Despite being tired, they all seemed to be fine.

They then told us the story of their adventures. At first, there was a 20 minute swim across the lake arm to where they thought the ridge was. Almost as soon as they got out of the lake they faced a huge cliff that they had to scale as there was no way around it. From there, they went up the ridge exactly as they had wanted to but instead of finding a clearing about half way up , the found giant ferns. To hear Bill and Ben is the only way to do it justice, but from what I gathered they were just surrounded by man-sized ferns. To clear some of these out of the way to make a path for the others they would fall face forward on top of the fern, crush it, stand up where their head had landed, and do the same thing again. This continued up the better part of the ridge all the while going up a steep incline. When they finally reached Tofua's rim, it was about 8pm - an hour after sunset. Trevor said he walked along the rim for 50 minutes to get back to camp. In the dark with no lights (and a new moon), it took them almost 3 hours of tripping over rocks and trying to stay on a trail to get back to where we were. I'm not doing it justice in describing it here, but if you can picture the way I took up - which I thought was tough - this seemed much tougher. We lit up the fire, got everyone fed and crashed in the tents soon after.

The Pako and our "wharf" right before leaving
The next morning was overcast. We got up, had breakfast, broke camp, and decided to head down to the base camp. Between the walk up and the previous night's dinner we were already almost out of water and nobody was too keen on going down to the lake again. My blisters were killing me and putting I tried putting on two pairs of socks but the pain caused by putting on the shoes almost made it seem worthless. I had to take small delicate steps for a while before I was able to walk at anything close to a normal pace. Luckily, we made it down the trail fairly quickly, filled up our water bottles at the tank, and set up camp down at the base. We then had a lazy day of eating, drinking green coconuts, napping, and reading. Although someone did mention it, no one decided to take the boat over to Kau to attempt the summit and back. We made dinner, finished off the bottle of whiskey, and crashed again.

We got up the next morning, packed up camp, and started bringing our stuff down onto the rocks by the water around 9am. The transfer of packs and people back to the Pako went a bit smoother although the last load of people was a few too many and we rode from the shore to the Pako very close to the water. The day was overcast again and the seas were a bit rougher. The ride back had a bit more up and down and swaying, but still wasn't too bad. Early on in the trip back, the crew caught a good size fish. They gave the tail of it to us which proved to be an excellent meal. We ended up making it back in a bit over 5.5 hours and all headed straight for the showers. A bit of relaxation time, then to Trevor's for a double-burger and some cold beers. The adventure was over.
Hanging out at the base camp Sena ('osi kaukau) and Bill Amy reading!
Fresh out of the water Nice Fish! On our way home...

Tofua, to say the least, was an adventure. Probably the coolest thing I've done since I've been here. I apologize for the length of the narrative, but I thought it was worth sharing in detail. To any and all the come to Tonga, if you're feeling up to it, I highly recommend a trip to Tofua - just bring good boots or you might experience something of what I did (see below).

Nasty!



PS - Special thanks to Kirsty for providing a number of photos.