Many Glacier Hotel, Montana, United States
Glacier National Park is, of course, named for its glaciers. They are generally rather small compared to
those farther north in the Canadian Rockies or in Alaska but a novelty in the
Lower 48 where there are only some very small ones elsewhere in the Rockies and
the Cascades. Grinnell Glacier is the
most accessible of those in the park, and the hike there is one of the most
popular of all despite being 12 miles round trip with and 1,800 foot elevation
gain. But some people cheat a bit by taking boats on two lakes to cut some of
the mileage if not much of the climb.
I did the Grinnell Glacier hike on my 2001 trip to the
park. I don’t usually redo hikes I’ve
done already but recall it being especially gorgeous at the top. From what I
remember it was one of those rare ones doing over again in place of going on a
new hike I haven’t done before. My recollections of the hike are actually
fairly weak, though. That was years before I went digital in my photography.
Having not had access to my pictures from before 2006 for so long, I am not reminded
of those experiences regularly the way I am by pictures from trips since that I
can always look at on my computer.
The hike to Grinnell Glacier overlook is not especially
difficult, but it was a hot day and I was for some reason not motivated to get
an early start. The trail is also one of the busiest I’ve seen with the
exception of that to the Hidden Lake overlook at Logan Pass. The first 2 ½ miles
of trail mostly follow the shorelines of Swiftcurrent and Josephine Lakes. The
next 3 ½ miles rise along the side of a mountain quite high above the valley
with stunning turquoise blue Grinnell Lake well down below in the valley. I wouldn’t
call the trail treacherous, but there are some cliffs alongside, nothing
compared to what I did last year in Switzerland where chain bolted into the
mountain to hold onto were necessary in some spots. The trail climbs steeply
only toward its end to the overlook on a small hill above Upper Grinnell Lake
into which Grinnell Glacier calves. The turquoise lake filled with floating
icebergs and backed by the small glacier below the towering cirque of the Garden
Wall is absolutely stunning.
Glacier’s glaciers are receding due to climate change like
most in the world, but can’t say it looks notably different than it did in
eighteen years ago. The park has apparently removed signage put up two decades
ago saying the glaciers would all be gone by 2020. It’s going to take a little longer than
that. The hike seemed longer than I
remember from 18 years ago, though, so my theory is that it’s because the
glacier receded and is now a longer walk than it used to be. Makes sense,
right?
2025-05-22