This is the third of a series of five posts pertaining to a week-long trip of Glacier National Park in August 2013.
Date: August 14, 2013
Location: Glacier National Park, MT
The day after I checked into the Many Glacier Hotel, I undertook the first of my two Many Glacier hikes -- to Grinnell Glacier. Skittish about encountering grizzlies (Many Glacier is prime grizzly habitat), I had decided to join the ranger-led hike (during the summer, GNP rangers lead hikes to Grinnell Glacier and Iceberg Lake daily).
The hike begins with boat rides across two lakes -- Swiftcurrent and Josephine (I had reserved a place on the 8:30 a.m. boat a few weeks in advance since it can be hard to get a place otherwise) though one can also choose to walk 2 miles and meet the group at the Lake Joesphine dock. Our guide was Ranger Bob who, at 71 years, had been a seasonal ranger at GNP for over 40 years.
Both the boat rides were brief but lovely.
From the dock we headed through dense vegetation, crossing a creek on a bridge, and then started our ascent along the flank of Mt. Grinnell. The view of Lake Josephine from the trail was breathtaking and further ahead, Mt. Gould could be seen.
We continued on till a half mile or so later, we caught our first glimpse of Grinnell Lake.
The trail is exposed throughout with constant views and beautiful wildflowers trailside. At one spot, the trail passes underneath a waterfall.
About 300 odd feet below the glacier overlook, there is a picnic area with pit toilets. We stopped here for lunch before starting the steep ascent up to the glacier. This also turned out to be a good spot for wildlife viewing with bighorn sheep on nearby slopes and a hoary marmot running around the picnic area.
After the final ascent, the glacier came into view, and it was an amazing sight. The meltwater forms a lake (frequently called Upper Grinnell Lake) on which small icebergs float. Wading in the water was quite a little treat! What is more, I was able to get great photographs of a bighorn sheep that was roaming near the glacier.
Finally, it was time to go back. The ranger-led group had split up after getting to the glacier, but a subset of us started back together.
As we got closer to our destination, a fellow-hiker Tania and I got engrossed in conversation and initially walked past a trail fork where we had to turn. Despite retracing to the fork to reverify when just a few steps past, the loss of concentration due to talking (that I am very prone to!) led to our continuing in the direction marked Many Glacier Hotel instead of the Lake Josephine dock. Thus, we ended up at the Lake Swiftcurrent dock where we had to spend an hour waiting to catch a boat back because the boat that left shortly after we arrived was "at capacity" from those who had boarded at Lake Josephine (had we anticipated how long the wait would be, we would have just walked the last mile back to the hotel!). However, we felt much better on seeing that the boat we did eventually get on included many people from our hiking group including Ranger Bob; thus we ended up at the hotel no later than them!
Date: August 14, 2013
Location: Glacier National Park, MT
The day after I checked into the Many Glacier Hotel, I undertook the first of my two Many Glacier hikes -- to Grinnell Glacier. Skittish about encountering grizzlies (Many Glacier is prime grizzly habitat), I had decided to join the ranger-led hike (during the summer, GNP rangers lead hikes to Grinnell Glacier and Iceberg Lake daily).
 |
| Hike track |
 |
| Elevation Plot (distance is underestimated a bit by the GPS device; the distance would have been 8.5 miles at least. |
The hike begins with boat rides across two lakes -- Swiftcurrent and Josephine (I had reserved a place on the 8:30 a.m. boat a few weeks in advance since it can be hard to get a place otherwise) though one can also choose to walk 2 miles and meet the group at the Lake Joesphine dock. Our guide was Ranger Bob who, at 71 years, had been a seasonal ranger at GNP for over 40 years.
Both the boat rides were brief but lovely.
 |
| View from boat across Lake Swiftcurrent (Grinnell Point to the right) |
 |
| Boarding the boat at Lake Josephine |
 |
| Mist rising from Lake Josephine |
 |
| View from boat |
 |
| Lake Josephine, Cataract Creek and Mt. Gould |
We continued on till a half mile or so later, we caught our first glimpse of Grinnell Lake.
 |
| Grinnell Lake |
 |
| A closer look at Grinnell Lake |
 |
| The trail winds its way along the flank of Mt. Grinnell |
The trail is exposed throughout with constant views and beautiful wildflowers trailside. At one spot, the trail passes underneath a waterfall.
 |
| Waterfall on trail! |
 |
| The milky discharge from the creek is glacial silt that gives the lake its deep turquoise color. |
 |
| Grinnell valley view; three lakes are visible: Grinnell, Josephine, and the man-made Sherbourne. Lake Swiftcurrent is not visible. |
About 300 odd feet below the glacier overlook, there is a picnic area with pit toilets. We stopped here for lunch before starting the steep ascent up to the glacier. This also turned out to be a good spot for wildlife viewing with bighorn sheep on nearby slopes and a hoary marmot running around the picnic area.
 |
| Picnic area 300 ft below the glacier. |
 |
| Hoary marmot |
 |
| Another 3 lake view |
 |
| 3 lake view in close-up |
 |
| Ranger Bob (our guide) describing something |
After the final ascent, the glacier came into view, and it was an amazing sight. The meltwater forms a lake (frequently called Upper Grinnell Lake) on which small icebergs float. Wading in the water was quite a little treat! What is more, I was able to get great photographs of a bighorn sheep that was roaming near the glacier.
 |
| Bighorn sheep near the glacier |
 |
| The same bighorn sheep |
 |
| The water of Upper Grinnell Lake (glacial meltwater) |
 |
| Salamander Glacier is perched above the Grinnell shelf (the black band clearly visible to its left is a sill of diorite resulting from a magma intrusion; it is visible all over the park) |
 |
| Icebergs float in Upper Grinnell Lake |
 |
| The view from another angle |
Finally, it was time to go back. The ranger-led group had split up after getting to the glacier, but a subset of us started back together.
 |
| As I began to head back, this bighorn sheep became the center of attention due to its scampering around |
 |
| The trail on the way back |
 |
| Traffic jam on the trail near the waterfall crossing! |
Thus ended a wonderful day hike on a beautiful (albeit somewhat hot) day. En route to my room I stopped at Heidi's snack shop in the basement and bought a couple of cold Jarritos sodas that were just heavenly after the hike.
 |
| Almost done...the hotel beckons |
No comments:
Post a Comment