The start of our second week and it begins with a hike up towards the Franz Joseph glacier on the island’s west coast. That meant going up and over the alps through the Haast pass, the most southern and lowest crossing from the east side of the mountains.
Knock on wood that our string of hot dry days continued which was even more surprising given we were heading into an area that receives unimaginable amounts of rain annually (averages 145” per year versus 33” in Toronto). That’s means lots of rivers running westward. Fun fact: there are 26 single lane bridges between Makarora and Franz Joseph which means a lot of cooperation between drivers traveling in opposite directions.
Once we reached the coast we stopped for lunch on the beach to watch the Tasman Sea roll ashore.
Our hike up the south side of the canyon near the glacier promised to be a huge challenge given the terrain, distance and grade. The goal was to get as high as possible up the mountain in 3 hours to maximize the view of the glacier. The track was called the Alex Knob and I’m not sure if that was his name or what hikers thought of him after attempting the hike.
Like many of our outings this one started in a gentle manner on a well groomed track. Little did we know we had a 3.5 km (2.2 mile) walk just to get to the trailhead.
Then things got nasty. There was lots of quirky steep areas, rock to rock strides and balancing on roots.
There were sections where you had to use your imagination as the trail abruptly seemed to end with a small wall of rocks and tree roots.
There were some easier spots as well with creative trail making given the massive trees across the track.
Eventually we were able to glimpse the glacier, which was still many kilometers away up the valley.
The higher we climbed, the more we could see.
And higher still. We had reached the allotted climbing time so this was where we had to turn back.
Time to reflect and appreciate the wonders of nature and the effort expended to get to this point. It really is magical.
One never hikes alone. There’s this small voice that tags along reminding you that every step up means another step on the descent. And who knew one’s shins had muscles? They joined the knees, quads, calfs chorus in loudly protesting the climb down.
We achieved a 6,450 ft elevation change (1/2 up, 1/2 down). The steepness meant a much slower pace so heartbeat rates were a bit lower at 138 albeit for three hours. And despite the lengthy walk back out from the trail head that extended our day in hiking boots to over six hours I’m giving Alex the benefit of the doubt that indeed that was his last name given how fantastic the overall experience was.
The Bennetts On Tour 