Pics: Hiking on Franz Joseph Glacier

The day after my 3-fold fun (heli ride, ice climb, kayak) I signed up to hike the glacier. I was only at Franz Joseph for 2 days, so I had to make sure I did it all.
The glacier is basically a huge pile of ice that is squeezed between a crevice of the surrounding mountains. We hiked up with clanky foot crampons that looked like they came from 5 eras ago. I was thankful for them. It would have been mighty slippery walking on the ice without the help. At one point, we squeezed thru a narrow passageway that had 20 foot tall ice rising up on either side of us, and I imagined I was one of the Israelites passing through the parted Red Sea. Although I think it was a little colder where I was. Another fun one was this big mouse hole they found. (They say the ice is moving every day, so one day you'll have a path, the next day you won't. There were parts of the hike that were scary. I could see how someone could easily slip down a crevasse. This wasn't a tour with guard rails.) Anyway, the mouse hole was really cool. Literally. We climbed up a rope stair ladder and shimmied and scooted on our bellies in this 360 degree tunnel of ice for probably 100 feet. The blue world around us made me think we were inside an iceberg in Antarctica. Not that I've been there. At the end of the day, I was tired, and my Heavenly Dad (God) treated me to a pizza dinner date. I was so thankful. It was so nice to sit by a warm fire in the restaurant and relax with yummy pizza, rather than sit in my room eating ramen noodles. Sometimes God gives us special treats, and I was glad.