Grinnell Glacier

 We drove up to the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. Beautiful views to be seen from the north shore of Lake Sherburne.
Our first hike was the Grinnell Glacier Hike. It was our favorite hike in Glacier last August, a 12 mile round trip with 1,700 ft of elevation gain. Because of snow hazards, the trail was closed after 3.5 miles, making todays hike 7+ miles roundtrip with about 1,000 ft of elevation gain.

 The trail starts in the forest on the way to Swiftcurrent Lake.















The trail soon travels along the west shore of Swiftcurrent Lake, a panoramic view of the south shore :

There is a short trail connecting Swiftcurrent Lake with Lake Josephine, we took the short spur to the boat dock on Lake Josephine's north shore, a panoramic view:

 We saw several rabbits along this portion of the trail

 The trail continues along the west shore of Lake Josephine.

 Along the way, we saw an "iceberg" in a pond along the side of Lake Josephine

 view of the "iceberg"

 There were lots of wildflowers in bloom all along the trail

 Panoramic view from the far end of Lake Josephine:

 From Lake Josephine, the trail is a steady climb upwards. We saw lots of streams along the trail as the snow is melting.

 There were places where the water flowed across the trail


















Wide angle view of Angel Wing, the Garden Wall with Salamander Glacier and Grinnell Glacier and Grinnell Lake:

 Part of the trail was lined with glacier lilies

 More water along the trail

Wide angle photo further up the trail:

Here our trail was partially covered with snow

Panoramic view:

 We love this trail!

 further up the trail, we had several large snow fields to cross

 We saw a small herd of bighorn sheep:

We decided to stop where the trail was closed, and found a spot to sit on the rocks, eat lunch and enjoy the views.

Panoramic view in front of us:

 Panoramic view behind us:

While we were eating lunch, we heard a loud thunderous noise and looked over to see an avalanche pouring over the trail we decided not to continue on. Here (zoom) it looks like a waterfall, it continued for 10 minutes.

We then returned back down the trail, another panorama, with Allen Mountain in the center:

 As the day warmed up, the amount of water on the trail increased

 View near the end as we returned to the trailhead.

Some of the many wildflowers and blossoms we saw along the trail today:

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.