Iceberg Lake, Montana, United States
What are considered two of the best hikes in Glacier
National Park start from the same trailhead in the Many Glacier area and can
potentially be combined into a single day hike for he-man hikers like myself
since the first 2.5 miles are on the same trail. Iceberg Lake is a small glacial tarn
surrounded by a nearly 3,000 foot high wall of rock with occasional icebergs
carving off the small glacier that feeds it, making it understandably one of
the most popular hikes in the pass.
Meanwhile, the hike to Ptarmigan Lake and onward to Ptarmigan Tunnel is considered
more challenging with a much greater altitude gain involved. The manmade tunnel
was created about a century ago to facilitate horseback pack trips between two
major valleys in the park. The views from the far side into a different
drainage and different glaciers is supposedly stunning.
After a big continental buffet breakfast with oatmeal, Greek
yogurt, and fruit in the main dining room at Many Glacier Hotel, I drove a mile
to the trailhead at Swiftcurrent Inn and was pleased to discover that at 8:00
A.M. I had managed to beat the rush - there was still plenty of parking. The cute
young leprechaun of a bellhop at Many Glacier who seemed to be the most
knowledgeable person on staff advised me to go to Ptarmigan Tunnel first to get
the hardest climb out of the way first while it was still relatively cool since
the two miles to Iceberg Lake from the trail junction are relatively easy to do
when already tired.
I set out through prime bear territory of mixed forest and
meadows on the trail that climbs gradually but steadily for 2.5 miles to the
trail junction near Ptarmigan Falls. I had heard there was a grizzly spotted
recently in the area and was armed with my bear spray while many other hikers
just had bells on their shoes. “What’s
this?” when I got to the junction. A sign said the trail to Ptarmigan Tunnel
beyond Ptarmigan Lake was temporarily closed due to bear activity in the area.
I’ve read this frequently happens in the park to reduce the chances of
human-grizzly encounters when bears are known to be in an area at a particular
time. Well that just made my day a lot
easier!
The two remaining miles of trail to Iceberg Lake leave the
forest for open country along the side of a ridge to approach the amazingly
beautiful glacial cirque. It’s one of those places where you feel like you
should be getting closer faster because it’s hard to fathom the scale of it,
similar to what I remember in the Pyrenees at the Cirque of Gavarnie in 2008
when the rock wall that seemed a short distance away was actually a several
mile walk to get to.
The wildflower meadows on the approach are stunning, and then
a Whitetail doe made an unexpected appearance just as I approached the lake.
Only slightly less mobbed with hikers that Upper Grinnell
Lake at Grinnell Glacier the day before, the scenery at Iceberg Lake is
stupendous. And while the walk up was
warm most of the way, the wind blowing off the cold lake made it too chilly to
take my shirt off and catch some rays for very long. Supposedly the lake
sometimes lives up to its name with plenty of iceberg floaties, but there was
only one when I was there. A few he-men
took a brief plunge to display their manliness, but that was a photo op I can
live without. I ate my lunch on a rock along the lake and found it almost
impossible to get up, not because I was tired from what turned out to be a
rather easy walk up but mesmerized by the beauty I didn’t want to leave. Then on
the way back a small heard of Bighorn Sheep put on a show on the rocks a short
distance above the trail, framed gorgeously by the towering peaks of the cirque.
Iceberg Lake is an amazing spot!
2025-05-22