What's this got to do with my knob?!
The main goal of my west coast road trip was to hike up up up through the different layers of forest and gaze upon the snowcapped peaks of the Southern Alps. There were a few different hiking options, but after consultation with a friendly DOC worker at the visitor center in Haast, I decided to attempt the Alex Knob track in Franz Josef / Waiau. This hiking path is one of the best ways to see the Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere without paying for a helicopter flight.
The trailhead was 2 hours away from my motel and you're supposed to start early, because the glacier tends to get cloudy in the afternoon. So to the delight, I'm sure, of the people next to me at the motel, I hit the road at 5:30am.
I pulled into Franz Josef town / Waiau just as the first rays of the sun were peeking over the mountains. I charged up the EV and sought coffee. A couple of Kea were calling in the trees by the EV charger. (I tried to get a picture of them but they were hiding!)
I made it to the trailhead by 8am. I was hoping to beat DOC's time estimate, but even so, I was a bit intimidated by this hike, both in terms of the total distance and the elevation change (over 1000 meters).
And we're off! Right out of the gate the path is nice & easy, graded & graveled, cutting through treefern-bedecked lowland temperate rainforest.
A little bit higher and we start to see the mixed broadleaf and conifer forest that is so distinctive here in NZ. The broadleaf trees are mostly evergreen southern beech and the conifers are podocarps - Gondwana-era trees known in NZ as rimu, kahikatea, miro, mataī and tōtara. Many of these mixed forests were cleared for animal grazing across NZ, but they still exist in protected pockets and large national wilderness areas.
Of course the nice gravel path was too good to last... from here on up it's pretty much a constant incline of roots and rocks.
After about an hour, the intrepid hiker reaches the Rātā Lookout and is rewarded with his first glimpse of the glacier!
Zoomed in. Appropriately, at the Rātā Lookout you can see the beautiful crimson red blossoms of the southern rātā tree. Rātā are cousins of the iconic New Zealand Pōhutukawa "Christmas Tree", which I probably (and unknowingly) first encountered as ornamental/invasive trees in San Francisco! Perhaps most interestingly, the endemic Hawaiian trees known as ʻōhiʻa lehua derive from this family of trees (originally blown or carried over to Kauai from New Zealand more than 3 million years ago)!
After about another hour, I made it to the Christmas Lookout, another clearing from which to gaze upon the glory of the glacier. This was my second turn-around point, but my legs and lungs were still doing OK so I decided to truck on.
My advice to myself on this hike was "don't look up", because there's always more "up", and it can be disheartening.
Looking down is maybe more satisfying. Insane how close the ocean is to these mountains.
Finally on the home stretch! In the last mile or so, the trail emerges from timberline into subalpine scrub, and finally into alpine tussocks. I was definitely huffin' & puffin' but I could tell I was close to the top and I couldn't believe my luck in terms of the weather!
Holy crap I made it!
Summit view of the glacier!
Glacier gif.
At the current rate it is melting, the Franz Josef Glacier / Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere will probably disappear within 10 years. I feel incredibly lucky to have seen it, even in its much reduced state. As recently as 25 years ago, it reached almost all the way to the valley floor!
After about 30 mins at the top, I said goodbye to the several fresh-faced, 20-something friends I made ("omg that was so easy!") (not pictured) and headed back down the trail. On 40-something knees, the way back was challenging. Luckily there was a lot to stop and look at now that I wasn't in a rush to make the summit.
Subalpine daisy.
Granddaddy tree!
Fern gametophyptes blanketing rocks.
By the time I hobbled back to the car park my knees and quads were shot, and I was quoting The Hours to myself out loud, but I felt as though I had accomplished my goal! And somehow I beat DOC's time estimate by 2 hours!
On the road back to Haast, I saw that the peaks had clouded up and felt lucky again to have hiked on such a clear morning - once again, NZ, you really put on a show!