Day 24 - West Coast Escape 4 - Fox Glacier to Franz Josef

[arcadiagt5]

Mirrored misty lakes, hills, and hiking on ice.

We started with a quick visit to Lake Matheson of the mirror like smoothness before breakfast. There was an fog/mist drifting over the lake but not enough to mess with the reflections. It made for some interesting and slightly eerie effects. Hopefully the photos will show it.

After that we started on the ride to Franz Josef. It turns out to be an easier and slightly faster ride in this direction. The worst hill is up first and after that they get progressively easier. Even with the last climb being entirely on gravel (roadworks in progress). It also helps that I'm spinning better - I seemed to be able to hold a good cadence all the way up the climbs (granted I was in granny gear most of the time).

The descents were about as much fun as I expected, ie lots. :)

After some regrouping at the motel we headed off to the heli-hike. Some faffing about ensued with getting checked in, boots, etc but then we were off. A quick scenic flight up to the glacier where the guide was waiting. This time I got closer to some of the ice features than I remember happening last time - crawling through a couple of tunnels and an iris (which got me quite wet but it dried off fairly fast). Many more photos were taken and after about a couple of hours on the ice we flew back down.

All in all a varied, interesting, and fun day.

And now for the tiny stats:

Day	Max	Ave rage	Distance	Time	BJ Rank	Against
24	64.4	12.7	24.04	1:53:40	670	5002
		Totals	1128.34	61:33:46

And shortly there will be dinner and hot pools. Life is good.

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I love that part of the world.

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

It is wonderful but it can be murder to ride through...

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I can imagine!