Peaks and Places | Travel and Adventure Blog

After spending the day exploring all of the quick and easy hikes around Franz Josef Glacier, we both decided that we wanted to do a big hike: one that would give us the best possible view of the glacier without getting in a helicopter and actually flying into the glacier itself. That was how we decided upon Alex’s Knob Track. This trail is 9.6 miles out and back, and with it being winter, we knew we had limited daylight and had to get an early start. The day before, the clouds settled in over the top of the mountain we assumed to be Alex’s Knob by 11am, and we were determined to make sure that didn’t happen to us.

We spent the night before the hike at the same campsite we had been staying at, the Otto McDonald’s Department of Conservation Campsite. It was the closest campsite to our hike, and would allow us to get a little more sleep before we needed to be at the trailhead. It was cold and rainy when we went to bed that night, and we were hopeful that it would clear up by the morning. When we woke up, we were greeted with a clear morning, and quickly made some breakfast and coffee before heading to the car park. On our way we noticed the tops of the mountains surrounding the glacier, the one we were about to hike included, had not gotten rain last night like we did at our campsite… instead, they got snow.

It should have been something that we thought about as we huddled in the van complaining about rain the night before, but the thought of snow hadn’t crossed either of our minds until we saw it dusted across the mountaintops. This wasn’t going to deter us though, we’d lived in Colorado for years, a little snow is nothing. Our goal was to be beginning our hike by 8:00am, and by 8:03am, we were parked, geared up, and locking up the van.

To say the ascent up was fun would be a flat out lie. It was a steady climb almost the entire route. The lower half of the mountain had gotten rain like the rest of the town, and was muddy and slippery. We started at about 800 feet of elevation according to Eric’s watch, and knew we needed to get to around 4,000 feet of elevation by the time we reached the top. We spent the first half avoiding mud as best as we could, dropping layers as we warmed up climbing, and making bets for what elevation we would be at when we reached the snow. Eric guessed 3,500 feet, I went with 3,000 feet. The snow started much earlier than we expected and started covering our trail right around 2,500 feet, meaning the remainder of the hike would be even more fun. There were two viewpoints along the way up, that provided really nice views of the glacier, but we were determined to see the best view, up at the very top.

By 2,800 feet in elevation, we were trekking through light snow, that seemed to get deeper with every step. Being limited on what we packed, neither of us had snow boots, and were just wearing ankle high hiking boots. By the time we reached tree line, the snow was pretty much up to our ankles. We were the first people on the trail, so I followed behind Eric, trying to step in his footprints, more and more snow somehow making its way into my boots and socks. Without the trees to protect us, the wind was absolutely brutal, making the last section of the hike honestly pretty miserable. Oh, and did I mention neither of us had the foresight to pack gloves or mittens?

By the time we reached the top, my hands were numb, my feet were soaked and cold, and overall I was probably a little bit more of an unhappy camper than I should have been. However, the view at the top was truly unmatched and almost made me forget about the cold for a few minutes. We probably only spent a maximum of ten minutes up at the top, taking pictures, huddling together against the wind, attempting to eat a few bites from the sandwiches (Eric’s peanut butter and jelly and mine peanut butter and Nutella) we had prepared.

After taking a lot of pictures, we put our sandwiches away and begun our descent, wanting to be back in the protection of the trees before attempting to eat any more. The way back down to the tree line was even more treacherous than the way up. There we sheer drops off the side of the very narrow trail, and our footprints from just a few minutes earlier packed down the snow to ice and had very quickly become slippery. On the way down we passed one guy who was making his way up the hill at a much more impressive pace than we had been going.

Within 15 minutes we were back in the tree line, back out of the wind, and the snow was back to just dusting the ground, rather than collecting in our boots. We stopped at a small overlook, the sun finally deciding to make an appearance, and finished our sandwiches, the promise of ramen when we got back to the van giving us renewed energy. The hike down was much faster than the hike up, and we passed two groups near the bottom of the trail. They definitely weren’t going to the top, and the clouds had already set in, but there were two lookouts about half way up, Christmas and Rata, that provided decent views of the glacier.

By the time we made it back to the van, the sun was already starting to go down again, around 2:30pm. As promised, we made some ramen as our treat to ourselves and headed back into town. We decided to stay in a Holiday Park, which is essentially a campground with amenities we typically do not have at our DOC campsites, a hot shower included. We did our laundry at the laundromat next door and took the longest hot showers we have taken to date. It was an unforgettable hike, and truly did provide amazing views of the glacier. That all being said, I think it would be worth doing again… if only in warmer weather.