The day before we got there we signed up for a full day hike up the Glacier, and the morning we woke up to go on it was POURING rain. Once we got to the hiking center, they gave us the option of cancelling the trip or downgrading to a half day since the conditions would be so bad. We decided to do the half day hike instead while a few of our friends opted out of it completely.
We left the center wearing their very nice gortext rain gear and headed out on what turned into a 2 hour hike up through the rainforest to the front of the glacier. This picture below, we hiked along the right side of it through the brush. And the center grey area has some streams and one large river running down the middle.
We crossed a few streams and went up into a brand new trail that had been cut out the day before for us. This trail made it a bit sketchy walking up since it was fresh dirt (mud really because of the rain). I felt a little uneasy about going up this route, considering the conditions were getting worse and we'd just have to hike back down through this area on our way back. Kel and I carried on and got through the muddy rainforest area. We stepped out of the bush to an open stone field with a huge river running down the middle from all of the glacier water. We were about 50m from the glacier and were told to put our "crampons" (Bear can correct me on that one) on. They are the spikes that go on the bottom of our shoes to help us walk on the ice.
As soon as we had completed this we gathered in toward our leader excited to move on and up the glacier! Then, our guide told us the bad news - we were unable to climb up the glacier because the stream we had crossed an hour ago had turned into a RIVER! We thought he was joking since we saw two other groups ahead of us and still on the glacier, but he said they hadn't received word yet and would be turning around shortly. Being the cheap traveller that I am, I asked him if we would get a refund (not realizing the intensity of the situation-- but he said we would!) Kel and I were bummed out about not getting on the glacier, so we wondered over to a 2x2 foot block of ice that had been chipped off and reached out for that so we could at least say we touched the Franz Joseph Glacier!
As we turned away from the glacier, the conditions were just as bad, if not worse. It started to thunder and lighting, which added to the intensity! We were nearing the trail from the river side, and noticed the 'stream' we needed to cross. It was well up to my knees and rushing extremely fast! A few guides had come up from the starting location to make sure everyone would get out safely. The staggered themselves across the river and we each had to cross one at a time while being pulled arm by arm through the guides. It was very intense and scary!!
We made it safely across the first river and started up through the trail again. The guides told us that our original path had been washed out so we needed to take the back up plan. This consisted of lots of ropes and ladders that had been in place to climb over large rocks and down sides of cliffs. The best part of it all, well, best and worst, was crossing under a few water falls! It was scary at the time but looking back at it was fantastic!! We were already soaking wet from the rain, so it almost felt like a ride at Universal Studios... just that it was real life and if we slipped at any time we fall off the side of a cliff.
After about another hour of hiking like this we finally made it back to the parking lot to get the bus!! I felt bad about the getting our refund question, but once everyone was safe, I didn't feel like too much of a jerk! And we did get 50% back! :)
The pictures are at the bottom… I can’t figure out how to upload these in the order I want, but you’ll get the idea from looking at them.
Hope everyone is doing well back at home! I miss you all!
This is the 'stream' we had to cross. The people in the red are the guides that staggered themselves through it to help us.
Here is a picture of Kel and I reenacting our feelings of the adventure! 
This one is of us BEFORE things got bad
An example of the waterfalls we had to go under. This picture was actually taken when we were heading out, so these waterfalls got a lot bigger and when we had to head back we were up there - about 100m above from where this picture was taken and had to cross under the water.
We made it back safely!! And you can see we are soaking wet...
Just a picture of the whole glacier
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