We saw a bird
![image[41]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image41.png "image[41]")
It didn’t hold still for long.
![image[44]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image44.png "image[44]")
We saw some spikeys
And one that was too blunt to be called a spikey.
And we saw more red flowers.
![image[57]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image57.png "image[57]")
There is a turn off here to go to another view point to see spikeys.
![image[66]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image66.png "image[66]")
Because the O-loop isn’t really an O, it has two lines in it.
Our Day 1 was the first line.
![image[75]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image75.png "image[75]")
This was the second line.
We did not feel like climbing to another viewpoint
![image[69]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image69.png "image[69]")
We were quite done with the O-loop
![image[72]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image72.png "image[72]")
Plus an O with two lines isn’t a letter
![image[78]](https://www.kerrimatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image78.png "image[78]")
So we decided to stick with the Q-loop.
We already told you that there were no pictures of the first 5 hours. But Kerri took a picture of when Matt finally saw the sign saying that there was shelter in 5 minutes.
You can see the glacier in the background
After recovering in the shelter for a while we took a selfie with the glacier and pretended we were happy
Then we continued onward to the end of the glacier
And the bridges.
You already saw the pictures from Matt’s phone
These are the pictures from Kerri’s phone.
There are no pictures with an actual camera
Because everything was too wet and awful
Although you can hardly tell that from these pictures later in the afternoon.
When it was a bit better
Eventually we reached camp.
There are no pictures from the first 5 hours of day 5 of the O-Loop because it was a miserable slog and no one wanted to pull out a camera and have the lens pitted by tiny bits of rock hard ice precipitation being blown by Antarctic winds.
This is what the John Gardner pass looked like when we crossed it. There was no snow the day before, but when we crossed it went over Kerri’s waist, as we discovered when she plunged through and went straight down.
After the pass you’re supposed to be able to see the glacier. We could kind of tell there was a glacier there but didn’t take any pictures because of frostbite. This is from much further down.
Before that we crossed this little bridge to the shack where we could have some ramen and start to feel our fingers again.
Then we crossed a much bigger bridge
And saw more glacier.
And then the foot of the glacier
Don’t we look happy?
Then we crossed another big bridge
And another
And then there was a woodpecker near the end of a miserable slog across and then down a mountain pass.
We set off again through the forest
And up
We again had spectacular views of the mountains
Occasionally we could even see bits of them
We crossed some bridges
Some were barely bridges
Others were brand new bridges
Which was good because there were some rough rivers
There were weird mushrooms in the trees
Eventually we reached the glacier
It’s not a big glacier
But it was the end for the day.
On Day 3 we saw a bunny’s backside.
And a Rufous-collared Sparrow
And went down a steep hill.
Can you spot Kerri?
