Grinnell Glacier Hike in Glacier National Park

We drove up to the Many Glacier Area of Glacier National Park, along the road as we drove by Lake Sherburne, we could see in the far distance the Garden Wall, with Salamander and Grinnell Glacier, and Grinnell Falls. Our destination today.

But first, we spotted this black bear up on the mountainside above us:

We then drove out to the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead on the northwest side of Swiftcurrent Lake. The hike to the Grinnell Glacier Viewpoint is 5.5 miles. We would hike along the shore a ways, making our hike today 12 miles roundtrip with 1,700 ft of elevation gain.

 The hike starts in the forest on the way to Swiftcurrent Lake

 Views from the bridge looking northwest, crossing Swiftcurrent Creek



















The trail soon goes along the west shore of Swiftcurrent Lake, looking toward the Many Glacier Hotel:












Panorama near the end of Swiftcurrent Lake looking east:





 a short 0.2 miles later, we reach the northeast end of Lake Josephine and then follow the trail along the western shore:

After leaving Lake Josephine, the trail begins a steady climb up through open countryside, getting a look of Lake Grinnell, Grinnell Falls, and Salamander Glacier on the Garden Wall to our west:

 This is a gorgeous trail, going past streams,

 and fields of wildflowers,

 interesting rock formations,

 and a lovely fall, pouring water down a rock wall to cool us off!

















This trail takes us above Grinnell Lake

 There are  so many different layers and patterns in the rockies

 We enjoyed all the variations in the rocks

 as we continued up this trail,

more wildflowers,

 an the views were great, even though there was a lot of smoke from the wildfires in the park.

 I recommend an early start for this hike, because it is a lot of elevation in exposed areas.

The last mile or so of the hike, the trail begins to level off a bit. Here we can see the top of Grinnell Falls, and along the Garden Wall: Grinnell, Gem & Salamander Glaciers

 more wildflower meadows to walk though

 and the trail climbs some more

 looking back towards Grinnell Lake and Lake Josephine, past the smoke we could also see Lake Sherburne in the far distance.

 as we hiked over the shoulder before Upper Grinnel Lake, we saw a herd of bighorn sheep.

On the shoulder, before descending to Upper Grinnell Lake

 Beautiful: Upper Grinnell Lake, the Garden Wall with Gem, Salamander & Grinnell Glaciers, several waterfalls and icebergs!

 lots of trails along the shoreline of Upper Grinnell Lake to explore

we found more wildflowers,

 a red pool,

 interesting rock patterns,

 and the outlet of Upper Grinnell Lake.

 We obeyed the warning sign and did not venture over to Grinnell Glacier.

We did spend a couple of hours up at Upper Grinnell Lake, exploring, enjoying the views and our lunch

 There were some good-sized icebergs on the lake, and we heard ice and rock fall from the glaciers, echoing around us.






















We all really enjoyed this hike to Grinnell Glacier!












This was another hike that was very enjoyable on the way back down. We saw the herd of bighorn sheep had moved over to the rocks on the other side of the shoulder and then








saw this large ram near where the trail begins the steeper descent,  we had to bide our time, as he wanted to cross the trail ahead of us!

The skies were clearer as we hiked out, but the sun had moved behind the Garden Wall.

 Better view of Grinnell Lake, Lake Josephine and Lake Sherburne.




















We were very glad of the waterfall down the rocks here:

Love the color of Grinnell Lake

 we stopped at Lake Josephine for a dip, before finishing this hike

 back to Swiftcurrent Lake and near the end of our hike.

 Some of the wildflowers and plants we saw on the trail today:

As we were driving out of the park, we saw this black bear behind a tree on the other side of the road.