Honeymoon Day 9 - Franz Josef
Day 9 began with another challenging drive. This time, south to the town of Franz Josef for our midday helicopter hike on the Franz Joself glacier.
After checking into our hotel and meeting a friendly three-legged cat belonging to the owner, we walked across the street to the tour company. As we had expected, our tour was cancelled due to the weather on the mountain. It was disappointing to have that cancelation after building up the courage to tackle the helicopter ride, but dense fog and swirling wind don't make for safe helicopter flying (well, landing, really). After getting that news, we booked a guided valley hike for the afternoon instead and found some good Asian food for lunch to lift our spirits.
Much of the valley hike was on land that was previously occupied by the glacier; it has recessed quite a bit over the past 150 years or so. There is a river that originates from the glacier and winds its way down the valley. The color of the river, a milky blue-grey, is due to rock dust generated by the glacier and suspended in the water.
This was the first glacier viewpoint - if you look really close you can see it peeking out from through the misty clouds. It was a bit cold, but the tour company furnished us with great waterproof over-trousers and parkas.
One of the highlights of the guided tour, rather than just walking up the public path ourselves, was getting to walk off of the path and up the streambed. We ducked off the trail through the woods at the base of the valley, and our guide offered us the chance to try a few local edible plants. I of course declined - eating ferns that the guide picked? no thanks - but Charlie was brave enough to try them. According to the guide they were supposed to be spicy, but Charlie says she must have picked up some mild ones.
There were some pretty waterfalls along the valley. These were not from the glacier but from somewhere in the mountains along the route.
Thanks to being on the guided tour, we got up close and personal with the waterfalls. We were glad that our hiking shoes were waterproof at this point.
Here you can see a bit more of the glacier. The sun was even starting to reflect off the top a bit, and we wondered what it must be like on the surface. I guess we will just have to go back another time to try to heli-hike again.
Here we had one last look at the glacier before heading back into town, and having a nice soak in the glacier baths at the tour company's base. They were included in our hike tickets, but we did spend a little extra to upgrade to a private pool, which was basically a hot tub in the temperate rainforest - lots of green and ferns. It was a really great way to end a somewhat disappointing but otherwise fun day.
After checking into our hotel and meeting a friendly three-legged cat belonging to the owner, we walked across the street to the tour company. As we had expected, our tour was cancelled due to the weather on the mountain. It was disappointing to have that cancelation after building up the courage to tackle the helicopter ride, but dense fog and swirling wind don't make for safe helicopter flying (well, landing, really). After getting that news, we booked a guided valley hike for the afternoon instead and found some good Asian food for lunch to lift our spirits.
Much of the valley hike was on land that was previously occupied by the glacier; it has recessed quite a bit over the past 150 years or so. There is a river that originates from the glacier and winds its way down the valley. The color of the river, a milky blue-grey, is due to rock dust generated by the glacier and suspended in the water.
This was the first glacier viewpoint - if you look really close you can see it peeking out from through the misty clouds. It was a bit cold, but the tour company furnished us with great waterproof over-trousers and parkas.
One of the highlights of the guided tour, rather than just walking up the public path ourselves, was getting to walk off of the path and up the streambed. We ducked off the trail through the woods at the base of the valley, and our guide offered us the chance to try a few local edible plants. I of course declined - eating ferns that the guide picked? no thanks - but Charlie was brave enough to try them. According to the guide they were supposed to be spicy, but Charlie says she must have picked up some mild ones.
There were some pretty waterfalls along the valley. These were not from the glacier but from somewhere in the mountains along the route.
Thanks to being on the guided tour, we got up close and personal with the waterfalls. We were glad that our hiking shoes were waterproof at this point.
Here you can see a bit more of the glacier. The sun was even starting to reflect off the top a bit, and we wondered what it must be like on the surface. I guess we will just have to go back another time to try to heli-hike again.
Here we had one last look at the glacier before heading back into town, and having a nice soak in the glacier baths at the tour company's base. They were included in our hike tickets, but we did spend a little extra to upgrade to a private pool, which was basically a hot tub in the temperate rainforest - lots of green and ferns. It was a really great way to end a somewhat disappointing but otherwise fun day.
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