NEW ZEALAND DEC 18 - FRANZ JOSEF - HIKES AROUND THE GLACIER OUTWASH

We were originally supposed to take a Heli-hike today.  That involved a 10 minute helicopter ride to the Franz Josef glacier.  Land on the glacier.  Then, outfitted with waterproof pants, woolen socks, boots, and crampons - we were supposed to take a two hour stomp around the glacier.  I knew I'd be OK, but with Charlie's bad hip, the crampon hike (described to us yesterday at walking upstairs for 2 hours)  seemed beyond unpleasant.  When we got up this morning the clouds had lowered, and all the local peaks were shrouded in low lying mist.  We went to the Helicopter place at our assigned 11 am.  After a half hour or so they said our trip was cancelled.  The pilots decided the weather was too unstable to try to fly and land on the glacier.  I had been so worried about Chuck, that I was almost relieved.

We walked up the street a ways and there was a sign recommending hikes around the base of the glacier.  We decided to do that.  A shuttle ($12.50 per person instead of the $425 per person the heli-hike would have cost us)  would drop us off in a parking lot.  There were several different hikes we could take, and then the shuttle would come and pick us us 2, 4, or 6 hours later.  Excellent plan.  There is a small grocery store here.  We went in and bought a sandwich, some drinks, and some trail mix. At 12:45 we caught the shuttle to the trail head.  We could have taken the 3 o'clock back - but opted to take the 5 o'clock back - which would give us lots of time to go slow, have lunch, take photos, and have a lovely walk.

Our first hike (hike A) went from the parking lot to as close as we could get to the base of the glacier safely.  The scale was difficult to describe, but the surroundings were beautiful.  The clouds still clung to the top of the peaks, but sunlight would break through and reveal the glacier off and on.  There were waterfalls all along the trail.  We were following the Franz Glacier outwash river, the Waiho River, which, on its own was beautiful.  What a super hike.  On the way back, we stopped by one of the waterfalls and had our lunch.

Charlie on the beginning of our walk

View of glacier at the beginning

Nifty moss and red lichen on the rocks

On the trail

We stopped by the waterfall - several times

A little more sun on the glacier

A huge ice fall and a warning sign to stay away

If you don't......

Looking back from the trail.  Trying to see a little perspective as to how big this scenery really is

A little less cloud cover 

Near the top of the trail we had 100 m to watch out for rock falls

Another shot looking back along the trail behind us at the Waiho River

Mists coming up from the river behind us

The mists from the Waiho river

We got back to the parking lot about three.  With two more hours before we had to get back on the shuttle, we decided to take a second hike (hike B), to Sentinel Rock.  It was supposed to only take 20 minutes return, but we weren't sure how long it would take.  Even with Chuck's bum leg, it took us 20 minutes.  The view was, again lovely, but the clouds were coming in more intensely, and it was drizzling.

View of the glacier from Sentinel Rock.

We finished that hike before 3:30, so we decided to try another hike.  This one went to Peter's Pond (hike C).  We walked through the rain forest.  Peter's Pond itself was very nice, but we got there too quickly, so we decided to finish the loop of the hike around Douglas Walk.  We ended up at the lower parking lot around 4:45.  We met another couple of tourists, a guy from Melbourne and a girl from Stutgart.  There were a lot of sand flies around, so we all found ourselves walking in a circle and chatting.  The bus came at 5 and we went back to the town.  Charlie and I stopped and had coffee.  We figured that we walked about 5.8 miles (9.3 km) on our stroll.  Charlie is in great shape, and I'm still happy we hadn't spent the time cramponing around on the ice.

Peter's Pond in the rain - glacier in the background

Rainforest - lots of moss - 

We went back to the Wild Tiger for dinner - still a nice place to eat and much less crowded than yesterday.  Back to the hotel, another stupid movie, and bed