OK, we were a go for the Grey Glacier, despite the weather. The deal was that we would take a boat ride from the hotel to some unspecified location. About 1 hour. We would then hike about 7.5 miles to an unspecificed sandy beach where we would meet another boat. 5 hours were allocated for this part of the journey which should have given us pause. The boat would then cruise around the galcier and drop us off at some other unspecified location from where there would be another hike (of unspecified length) to catch a bus back to the hotel. No problem.
It was windy but the first boat ride was nice, right across the lake in front of the hotel. We were then deposited on the shore and began our hike. Normally 7.5miles is quite a stretch on its own but by now the wind had got up and it ws raining, hard. I stopped to put on my waterproof pants (why am I smelling penguin?) and tripped over them struggling to get them on. Carol and I had then to catch up with the group which we never quite got ahead off. The hike (rated as moderate, yeah, yeah) got steeper and rockier. The Perry’s and Per & Astrid were striding ahead. The wind got stronger and the rain turned to horizontal sleet. We had only come about a mile!
By the time we got to the high point we knew this was a real challenge. But we managed to stop for a group photo. Carol (second from the left) was not having a very good time.
Thanks whoever took this photo and shared it.
Long story short we made it with about 15min to spare before the boat arrived. The guides tried to amuse us by saying that if we missed the boat we’d need to hike back the way we came. That didn’t get a good response. During our brief rest we had some hot soup and and a sandwich of unspecified nature. Carol began to recover and gave our guide a big hug for getting her through this.
The boat was big but it just slid right up to on to the beach and we all piled on. There must have been 100 people on the boat. The cruise was definitely worth the effort (although I can’t speak for Carol). The views of the glacier and surrounding mountains were spectacular.
We got really close to the glacier
Mark was having way too good a time for the effort involved, carrying the flag for KQED to the ends of the Earth
And, the surrounding mountains were breathtaking.
This cruise lasted about an hour and was a delight. The boat ended up cleverly sliding up on to another beach and we were told that there was about a mile hike to catch our bus to the hotel. Carol, who had perked up by now, was not happy. The hike was bizarre. 1 mile of sandy beach and what felt like 100mph crosswind. We were all walking sidweways, slowly. A whole boatfull of people. Probably 100 or more. We did, in the end, find our bus (after crossing a rope bridge that only held 6 people at a time) and lived to tell the tail. Today was an adventure.