The Northern Circuit

I convinced a coworker (with surprisingly little effort) to do the Northern Circuit tomorrow.  The conversation went something like this:

"Want to do the Northern Circuit on Sunday"?
"Do you mean the Crossing?  Isn't the Circuit multi-day"?
"No, I mean the Circuit.  The website says it is multi-day, but I think we can run it in a day."
"How far is it"?
"Like 55 k."
"How far is that in miles"? (She is from Juneau.)
"Like thirty something."
Officemate:  "34."
"Okay."
"Really?  I was getting ready to have to persuade you."
"The most I've ever done in a day before was 26, but let's do it."
"Righteous."

In further discussions, the date was moved from Sunday to Saturday, and she agreed to do an early start.  As such, I will leave my house between 03:30 and 03:45 tomorrow (about 7.5 hours from now).  We'll drive from her house, and should be on the trail about 05:00, headlamps blazing, for sunrise high in Tongariro National Park.

You can track our progress via my SPOT page.  SPOTs do not do too well in thick cover here, so some of the legs might not show up, but overall, I'll be beaming my location to the internets via satellites every ten minutes or so.

To clarify a few points, I do say righteous, and bitchin', which does not get near enough use.  The conversation began on email, but was simplified in the interest of story telling.  There was also a lack of enthusiasm for the running aspect of the trip, but I'll work on that as long as she doesn't decide to do it in boots.  Lastly, the Department of Conservation describes it as a four day trip, but really, 55 k in four days?