Franz and Fox

One question that popped into my head when hovering over the glaciers and mountains the previous day was just big is all this really? I don't know if it was the lack of horizon or the constantly changing altitude (the pilot was definitely having fun) but it was difficult to tell just how big everything below us was. Franz and Fox were enlightening.

The first glacial town you come to when heading south along the west coast is Franz Josef. It is a mountain town not really in the mountains, but that's the west coast for you. A land of extremes. More or less the town itself is a bit of a tourist trap, at least superficially, but what we cared about lied just outside it's borders. Franz Josef Glacier. It was about a 45 minute hike in and bang, there you are. Massive glacier moving it's way, up?, the mountain. The first thing that impressed me about it was where it once was. Even just 100 years ago it was so much bigger. You pass signs on the hike in, 30 minutes before you can even see it in the distance (and I mean waaaay in the distance), that show where it "once was." The second thing that impressed me was just how insanely huge it still is. We couldn't get right up on it as the dangers are extreme but even from far away it makes you feel very small. We were standing in a valley, thousands of yards from this glacier, scoured by years and years of glacial movement. Franz Josef has left it's mark on every thing from the cliff walls to the tiny pebbles on he ground. It is amazing what ice can do. What is left in its receding wake is just as beautiful as the glacier itself. Incredible waterfalls, beautiful rock formations, pools of the most beautiful blue water... The pictures don't do justice. The scale and power of everything in that valley was humbling.

Heading south from Franz you come to the town of Fox Glacier. It is basically a smaller version of the first, the town that is. I believe Fox Glacier is supposed to be the less trafficked glacier but for me it was the more impressive. I don't think the valley was as beautiful but the way you approached the glacier itself was special. You basically walk in the brush for 20 minutes or so which is very green and thick and then out of nowhere you crest a little hill and between the forest and trail you can see the glacier glowing in the distance. Very cool. It was also neat to see the pools and river carrying away pieces of the glacier. For us, catching pieces of ice was like touching the real thing. Not the same I know but as close as we could get. I'll take it! The vantage point at the end of this trail is up on a hill so you can look down on the valley below. This is where I took the pictures of the two guys walking below us. The whole experience, the two glaciers and chopper ride deep into the mountains, really opened my eyes to just how amazing and extreme the terrain is out there. I don't think I imagined it right because the reality of it all blew me away.