Glacier - Iceberg Lake

I have been wanting to hike to Iceberg Lake and Grinnell Glacier for ages and we are running out of time.  It is a 100 mile drive to Many Glaciers so 2.5 hours there, 2.5 hours back and an 11 mile hike is about 6 hours so it is a full day.  The Going to the Sun road was closed yesterday due to rock slides so if it is still closed this morning when we get there we will go to Two Medicine and do a hike there though it is the same distance away.

We get to the Park and the road is open!  They are calling for sun and clouds in Babb, MT which is at the entrance to the Many Glaciers section of the Park.  The main part of the Park is pretty gloomy with low hanging clouds.

The Sun is shining in Babb but as we head the 12 miles back into the Park we encounter rain.



Iceberg Lake is our goal.  I had though about adding Ptarmigan Tunnel which is just above the Lake the hike but it adds 5 miles  to a 10 mile hike and the weather isn't so great. At least we got the last parking spot at the trailhead.   It is raining but we decide to go ahead.

The 1st quarter mile is an uphill hike gaining roughly 185 feet which would be about 18 stories.

The colors are popping

We run into a couple of deer grazing.

It is a steady drizzle but the scenery distracts us

There are plenty of small streaming falls running across the trail.

Every once in awhile the sun makes an appearance and the forest glows

I hadn't expected much color except for the green of the pines and yellow of the aspen but there is red and orange abounding as well.

Everywhere you look there are waterfalls

This trail must be really wet and icy in the Spring

The first couple miles of the hike was in open area with views of Mount Grinnell, Mt. Wilbur and Swiftcurrent Mountain.  Now we enter into the forest

At about 2.6 miles in we reach Ptarmigan Falls.   A Ptarmigan is a grouse that inhabits mountainous and cold regions of the north and has feathered feet.

We meet up with some hikers wearing camouflage

What I believe is the Ptarmigan Wall looms ahead.  It is an Arete which is a thin ridge of rock separating two valleys that have been carved by glaciers.

The clouds over the  mountains in contrast to the colorful foliage makes it look like half of the picture is in black and white.

The valley below must have some sort of wildlife roaming around

Low and behold it does!  I zoomed in on this Moose that Gary spotted.  It wasn't until I looked at this picture that I noticed his lady friend just to the right.

Looking back it appears as we may still get some sunshine if we are lucky

We are getting closer but the sunshine isn't.  We ran into some hikers coming back from the Lake and they said it was so fogged in you couldn't see to the other side.  We are bummed but we've come this far so we hope for the best.

It starts to clear a bit and the drizzle has stopped.

Still not done with water crossings

We are getting closer!

We cross a bridge over the Ptarmigan River so we are only about 1/2 mile from our destination. 

Careful Gary, that bridge looks a bit icy.

We now reach an alpine meadow and a smaller lake

I think our destination is just around the corner.

Ta Da !  I am so happy to see that the fog has lifted almost to the top of the Ptarmigan Wall.  I had hoped there would still be some icebergs floating around but it has been a warm summer.

The water is that indescribable blue

That's still some chunk of ice on the other side

and as clear as can be.  This is the first lake we've hiked to though that I didn't dip my feet into.

Well worth the hike but now it's time to head back.

Blue Sky!

The thing I like about one way hikes is that the return trip the scenery is always different

Gary has been hiking in the woods so long he is starting to look like a gnarly old tree!

Back to the Falls already

I loved all shades of green with these trees

and then this section is brought to you by the color red

Oh no!  Frosty the snowman melted!

I took over 400 pictures - it was kind of hard to narrow it down

Our deer friends are still here

As is the truck 10.5 miles later!

As we had back towards Babb the sun is shining



 but looking back to Many Glaciers still looks a bit ominous

Cows grazing by some Tee Pees along the river

We are starving and it will be after 8 pm when we get home so we stop at Two Sisters to grab a burger.

Apparently they are not Trump supporters

Though this is not politically correct it is funny

Losing the last rays of light as we head back through the Park on Going to the Sun Road

An excellent hike!  Next week we hope to get to the Two Medicine side of the Park and then we will have conquered it all (well all the sections anyway)