The around the mountain track is a 4-6 day backpack around mt Ruapehau, which is much less crowded than the tongariro crossing or the tongariro northern circuit.
The first part of the around the mountain track is also part of the tongariro northern circuit, so I reserved a spot at the Waihohonu hut (most huts don’t require reservations unless they are one of the great walks) and started hiking.
I made the side trip to a waterfall and upper and lower Tama lakes.
Met a Swiss guy named Robin who is hiking sections of the TA and also doing the round the mountain track, so we hiked together and talked a bunch.
I stayed at the Waihohonu hut, which has amazing views of both Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe. We got there quite early so we took a side trip to a nearby stream and spring
