Alex Knob Track at Franz/Josef Glaciers

Alex Knob Track is 18.7 km (11.6 mile, including 0.5 mile to Lake Wombat) out and back track with about 1100 meters elevation gain. It is a beautiful but hard trail, according to AllTrails.com, and New Zealand Department of Conservation. 

We arrived at the trail head around 8am on Tuesday, December 19, 2023. It was a rare gorgeous day during our trip to New Zealand, clear sky, bright sunshine.

Franz/Josef Glacier 

Initial section of the track is well paved and tree tunneled 

The first ~ 1.5 miles have gentle slopes and shade by the moss cladded giant rainforest trees. This section of the track also has good views of Franz/Josef Glacier and ice field. At Charismas lookout we met two young females who were resting there, we asked them to take a group picture for us, and took one for them as well. We then moved forward uphill. They were the first group we caught and passed, we were caught up by a few groups before this.  

moss cladded rocks, vegetations and trees along the trail

Icefield for Franz/Josef Glacier viewed from Alex Knob Track

The track path under a fallen giant tree

Franz/Josef Glacier

Then the track becomes steep, with consecutive short switch backs, and trees are replaced by vegetations and shrubs. The treeline altitude is around 1000 m.  As the track turns, we could not see the glaciers any more until the Alex Knob point but the Waiho Glacier river and its mouth at Tasman sea, the surrounding hills, and the Tasman sea. The clouds were moving in from west. 

My heart beat was very high at the end of the ascend as I was trying to keep pace with Lily. I slowed down, and rested a bit at a hilltop to catch my breath. The rest really helped to slow down my heart beat, and I regained my strength. It also helped that the last couple of miles is relatively flat. I restarted at a slower pace and reached the Alex Knob point comfortably.

large steps on the trail

Waiho Glacier River and its mouth at Tasman Sea

treeline is relative low at 1000 meters or so

Rest at a small hill top

Now the clouds covered the glacier side of mountains fully, we could not see the Franz/Josef glacier most of the time. One middle aged man had been there for 45 minutes waiting for the cloud break up to reveal the glacier with no luck. Just when there was a break of cloud, I had a picture taken to mark my ascend to the Alex Knob point.

We rested at the point to have our picnic lunch. A few minutes later, the two young females we met at Christmas lookout reached the summit as well. We struck a conversation with them - they were international exchange students at Sydney, Australia, one from Belgium majored in history, the other from Italy majored in biology. 

As we descended,  clouds started to clear up. In fact, by the evening, the clouds in the mountain cleared up all together, we could see the snow capped mountains from Franz/Josef Glacier village!

In the end it took us 7.5 hours, including lunch, to complete the out and back 18.7 km (11.6 miles), 1100 meters elevation gain, hike. 

Challenging track, varying landscape, multitude of vistas from glacier, to icefield,  glacier rivers, surrounding small hills and Tasman sea, plus the feeling of on top of the world made this hike one of the best we have ever had.

Reaching the Alex Knob point at 1303 meters

A larger opening in the cloud to reveal the glacier later

Glacier at Dusk

Our trail in miles

Notes

1. The trail head is about 1 mile (1.6 km) away from Franz/Josef Glacier car park. The parking space at the trail head is very limited, ~ 10 slots.

2. The treeline at new Zealand is much lower than North America, and has large variation within New Zealand, from 1500 meters at north island to 900 meters at the southern most mountains. A in-depth discussion on New Zealand's treeline variation can be found here.