Hike to Grinnell Glacier from Many Glacer Lodge

9/2/2007 ~ 8:30AM - 5:15PM

Grinnell Glacier Hike - 11 Miles - 2 Boat Rides - Elevation Change of 1600 Feet - Starting Elevation about 6000 (when a hike has elevation changes, it does not mean you only go up and down once ... it means you never go over that much at one time)

Well, our adventure started out in the bedroom of all places. What to wear? We had slept with both windows wide open and it must have dropped into the 40's overnight ... we were really cold.

I started to put on my silks under my 'light weight' hiking pants, my wicking shirt & one more shirt over that for good measure. I quickly got warmed up and decided the silks were not necessary.

Carolyn had been telling Fred to be prepared for how cold it would be and he proceeded to put on his silks (top & bottoms), his hiking pants that have a swim suit like lining, undershirt, (don't forget the silks) a long sleeve shirt and a jacket. He decided the 5 lb. sweater wasn't necessary!

Now, I'll grant you that it was very cool when we got on the 1st boat. When we landed we had to walk 1.3 miles over Josephine Island (up & down hill) to get to the second boat. Fred starts talking about being overdressed. (Duh, sunshine at the altitude of 6000 feet is very warm. When we landed at the takeoff site for the 'real' hike, Fred (in front of god and country) asked the female ranger where he could take off some of his clothes. (She must have thought ... "oh boy, I've really got one here!") She recommended some trees ... he decided it would be better to just wing it.

Fred then proceeds to tell me that he is in real trouble, in order to go to the bathroom, he needed to get through 4 layers of clothes, his undies, the net, silks & long sleeve shirt he tucked in ... only Freddie.

OK, now we can get started. The hike starts with a wonderful boardwalk around the lake in which we had just landed. (I'm thinking, I can do this!) Then prior to going into the woods, the ranger stops us and advises that we shouldn't panic, there are 2 steep parts of the trail and that we are going to do the first one right now and that it has 3 switchbacks ... wait a minute ... I thought switchbacks were just for cars. As we're standing there I hear this voice from behind us say, "I'll be dead by the 3rd one." I laughed and said, "I'll be dead on the 1st." That started our friendship with none other than another "Beth". I must say that she is a much younger Beth by 17 years. She made our hike so much fun, she was a blast.

Well, we get started, oh my goodness ... Fred & I both knew right then that we were in for a long day. From that point they told us that there was only one other steep spot ... right ... you might want them to define 'steep' for you.

I must say that both Fred & I huffed and puffed our way along, we were able to keep up with the main group ... let me tell you I think it was by sheer determination. Several people fell back. I don't think we had any top shelf hikers with us.

We stopped for lunch at which point Beth suggested we get a head start on the group. I had been thinking the same, as we could see from our lunch site the next 'steep' trek. We thought we could take it a wee bit slower if we were on our own ... it kinda worked ... we did get to the glacier prior to everyone else ... wow what a site. We spent about 45 minutes there, the ranger took us an extra mile into the area for more explanation ... I'll explain what we saw on another post ...

GREAT! We made it and it's down hill from here ... right? By the time we got down our 4 mile journey, I was convinced that I took 3-5 life years off my knees ... not kidding ... they were actually crunching ... then there were my poor toes that were jammed into my boots ... let's face it ... I was ready to be off the mountain. Fred didn't have the structural problems, his were more muscular ... his quads were ready for rest! It was getting hard to get ones foot high enough to go over the rocks in the path.

OK, we were feeling pretty good, we had done it! Then on our way home via the boats, 2 different people said to me that they hoped when they are "our age" that they would be able to do what we had just completed. Another gal said, she was impressed we made it , as she didn't think we'd make it seeing as we had come from ground zero. (sea level) OK, we still feel pretty good, even if we were the oldest hikers on the trail.

Seriously, it is the hardest hike we've ever done, we are glad we did it and we probable wouldn't do it again. Now for pictures.

Yes, this is Fred, on the boat, showing off his silks ... actually telling me how he had overdressed. We had some really good laughs about this ... I kept getting this vision.

Just getting started. This is the point when the ranger told us about the 2-steep inclines and the famous switchbacks ... met Beth.Looking back after completing the switchbacks to where we started. You can see the boat dock in the upper left of the lake if you look carefully.

This is Grinnell Lake. It happens to be where Carolyn hiked. She also had to take 2 boats, just started out 1/2 hour later.

This is one of the views we had. If you had looked at the 'Many Glacier' posting I referred to the Indian reservoir, well that is what you see at the distant point and then there are mountains behind that yet. The reservoir was about 20 miles out. Remember, we started at the middle lake.

Our leader ... Diane. Kindergarten teacher, naturalist & ranger. She & her husband hikes 6 days a week in these mountains. She was amazing at every level.

Yep, that's us ... we made it! That is Grinnell Glacier behind us. Above Grinnell is another glacier called, "Gem"

That is the actual color of the water. The glacier puts out so much "glacier flower" that it turns the water this color. As the concentration lessens, the water becomes more aqua and then turquoise. Those are actual icebergs in the lake.

This is Grinnell Glacier. Notice the people?

Wish I could give you an idea of just how big these are ...

This is one of the several puddles around the glacier that have algae growing in it. It was really that red.

This is Grinnell Falls. It feeds Grinnell Lake where Carolyn had hiked. It is fed by the glacier as seen above. Took this picture as we came back down the mountain. (Pictures not in the best order ... forgive me)

We're on our way back ... the next 2 pictures show the 'glacier flower' pouring into Grinnell Lake. The color is the true, just breath taking ... wait that might have been from the hike.

Again, Grinnell Lake

We're on our way down.

Prior to leaving the glacier area, Beth advised that we all needed to stack a rock on top of other in show we were there ... Fred did his own thing.