Well, we lucked out! Weather forecast was for a cold rain today. We headed out anyway and were rewarded with a slightly chilly, but pretty day! We noticed a bunch of photographers with ridiculously long lenses focused on a high ridge and stopped. Lo and behold, two grizzlies were traversing the upper reaches. They were very far away (thankfully), and were cool to see. After watching them saunter out of sight, we continued on.

Our destination was the Many Glacier area of the park. It’s an spot known for being rich in wildlife and for the Grinnell Glacier Trail, a 5.5-mile hike that takes visitors right to the foot of the Grinnell Glacier (surprise!) It’s also known for its “bear frequenting,” so we donned our cans of bear spray and headed into the woods.

Along the way, we passed two lakes (Swiftcurrent and Josephine)  and saw another from about 1,000 feet up (Lower Grinnell). All of them were that otherworldly blue-green that most glacial lakes are known for. The trail took us through aspen forest, pine forest, along very narrow catwalks, and over waterfalls trickling down the mountain. The grasses and bushes were in their autumn dress and dotted the slopes with yellow, orange, and yellow. Mountain goats were doing their mountain goat things way above the trail in areas that looked impossible to navigate.

See those red and black dots on the trail? Those are people!

As we climbed and made our way above the treeline, the air got more and more chilly. But the climb was worth all the effort. Our destination was Upper Grinnell Lake. It is fed directly by the glacier itself and lies in its shadow. Icebergs floated in the ice blue water and made constant eerie cracking and creaking noises. We actually watched one of the smaller bergs basically disintegrate into the water while creaking in protest. Bill plans to upload a video of it. Check it out in his post! We basically had this magical place all to ourselves…and what appeared to be three abandoned backpacks.

This is my phone’s panorama of the Upper Grinnell Lake. The glacier is on the left!

The way back was just as spectacular as the way up, but much easier. We saw no bears (thank goodness!), but we did run into a mountain goat that decided he wanted to hike the trail, too. We followed him (very slowly) for a while, but it became apparent that he was in no rush. I waved my arms and hollered at him and he moved…then watched us from his perch as we continued walking. You may need to view the larger image of this photo to see him clearly!

We made it back to the car in one piece and both of us agreed that it was a really great trail with a unique and spectacular payoff! Special thanks to Billy for being patient on the trail. He had to deal with 5+ hours of me practicing “safe bear protocol.” That meant me spouting random gibberish loudly…constantly…to make sure we didn’t sneak up on anything. I sounded like a lunatic, but I was going to make sure I did my part to make sure we didn’t have any surprises. And it worked! No bear sightings! It was somewhat nerve-racking the entire time though. We were in a pretty remote area and If we saw 20 people over the course of the 5 hours it was a lot. The ranger stations and facilities were all closed.

Tomorrow is somewhat open-ended. We’ll probably hit a short hike in the park and then head down to Flathead Lake. Looks like Yellowstone is the next big stop. And I mean BIG…the park is humongous. Thanks for stopping in!

This is near the top of the trail. If you look closely, you’ll see three lakes in this photo. The one all the way at the top is where we started!

A very still day at Lake Josephine!

A pretty scene at the very beginning of the hike.