Sorry this post is a little late – my big final projects are due this week and I completely forgot to post.  But here it is – photos from my Franz Josef Glacier Guides Valley walk. (which I booked for half price at bookme.)

So the third and final leg of my trip was the Franz Josef glacier.  I was going to go on a helicopter tour/hike on the glacier but unfortunately, the weather had other plans.  I did get to go on a guided ecohike, which I would totally recommend.   On the left, a picture of bark, and on the right, a picture from inside the valley left by the glacier.

This is the glacier (the “little” white bit in between the hills.) It’s actually much bigger than it looks! Our guide was fantastic – he was really knowledgeable about the birds, the plants, and the glacier.  You can do the hike on your own, but if you want to learn about the area, I really recommend the guided hike.

There were waterfalls all over the valley and apparently these three consistently have rainbows on them! So gorgeous.

Another waterfall! The hike itself was very accessible – maybe a mile, mile and a half total, mostly flat, a lot of it on graded, unpaved paths, with plenty of places to easily pause for a bit. There was a rocky hill at the end but it could easily have been avoided.

A bit closer to the glacier. If you’re interested in hiking but want or need an easier hike, I’d really recommend this one, especially with the guide.  The only concern is that it is in a rainforest and the rocks frequently get wet and perhaps slippery.  The guide was clearly used to people of varying abilities and he had a number of options to tailor our hike if needed. I had a great time and even though I could have done the hike on my own (minus the few times we went past the public access boundaries), it was totally worth it to go with the guide!