Day 14 Grinnell Glacier

Kathi after her third time through the waterfall

Remnants of the snow blasting from trail crew

Elrods Rock or Al Gore's dressing room.

Piece of ice from Upper Grinnell Lake

Scrape marks from glacier moving over the top of the stone

Camera on timer

Kathi looking for either very new rocks or rocks that are very old and just uncovered...

Upper Grinnell lake is right behind us, glacier is off on the left side, salamander glacier is above

After our shower we pose in front of Grinnell Glacier

Chain of lakes

Trail Crew shovels steps into the snowfield

Kathi after making it through the shower

We are going to hike way to the back of this picture

Lower Grinnell Lake

Kathi takes her turn at a morning shower

Josephine Lake

Hey we are cruzing in a Chevy Malabu.  It has a smooth ride and good gas milage in the mountains

Gem Glacier is the snow on the top center

Grinnell Glacier and Upper Grinnell Lake

Adding a rain coat really helps

First picture is Grinnell in 1938 followed by 1981

Grinnell in 1998 and last is 2005

Swiftcurrent Lake

Salamander Glacier is the snow mass on top right

Get Ready

Turn on the shower!

Today's hike 11.7
Total miles 152.5

Rise and shine early today as we are going to drive down to Glacier to try and hike the Grinnell Glacier trail.  We asked at St Mary's Ranger station many times about this hike.  When we inquired, the Ranger's all said ice axe and crampons due to the snow crossing.  Well we waited until our very last possible day to give the trail time to melt out.  

We were on the road and to the border crossing early.  So early, the Boarder Agents were still following all of the rules of being stern, stone faced and thorough.  Turn your engine off, unwind all of your windows, passports, take your sun glasses off, do you have any liquor, fire arms or fruit.  Yes, let's watch those fruits. Oh but before we get to the boarder crossing we have to stop for a bear crossing.  A black bear was on the road and standing just like another black angus we have been dodging most of the vacation.  This guy looks just like a cow, until it turned its head and then we noticed it has shorter hairier legs...Yep, a bear.  

Our drive takes about an hour and fifteen minutes.  We pull into the ranger station back at Many Glacier climb out of the car to go to make our last inquiry about the trail.  When we ask about the trail the Ranger said "it's open. Today is the first day it is open."  I felt like certainly I must have mis- heard him.  Did he say it was open? Yes, open no need for ice axes, poles or any other snow crossing equipment.  Yesterday the trail crew used dynamite and blew open the snow that was hindering safe travel.  The trail crew is up shoveling snow steps in right now.  What wonderful news!  We climb back into the car and drive with unbridled excitement to the Grinnell Glacier trailhead.  We have never in the three trips we have taken to Glacier, been able to get all the way to Grinnell Glacier due to these snowfields and today is the first day it is open for this hiking season!  What luck!  

We get our boots on and are hiking by 8:50.  The first part of this trail is a nature trail and is wide with lots of sitting benches.  This makes me laugh as this valley bottom we are in is a major corridor for moose and bear.  Kathi and I are well aware that today might be the day we see a bear on the trail.  We make lot of noise and stay aware of the direction of the wind.  Remember spraying bear spray into the wind will not turn out so good for you! 

As we hike past the first lake we meet up with a father and daughter who are also headed to the glacier. They do not have bear spray and see that we do... Since we are all hiking at the same speed the father and daughter would like to join us.  They are out for one more hike before heading back to Nebraska.  They have no idea how special today is.  They had stopped at the ranger station to ask about what hike the rangers recommended.  The ranger just sent them on this hike.  Man, are we all in for a special hike!  The first part of the hike is past the beautiful glacial blue tinted Swiftcurrent Lake.  Next up over a knoll to walk past another blue tinted Lake Josephine.  There is a boat ride you can take across the two lakes.  The ticket can be  purchased for $23 bucks ahead of time.  The boat ride allows you to skip a lot of the trail where the bears are prevalent.  

As we hike on up the trail we are talking really loud about all of the hiking we have all done.  The father had summited around fifteen 14ers in Colorado. He really can't recall all fifteen of them as there were only a few memorable one's.  He said he had done all of the easy one's so if he was going to continue with completing all 53 of the Colorado 14er's, he was going to have to get serious about it.  As we are chatting we are getting closer to our destination and getting better views of Salamander glacier along with a better peak of Grinnell Glacier. Grinnell Glacier sits pretty low in the cirque while Salamander hangs up on the wall of Grinnell mountain.  Gem glacier is also in full view as it is much higher.  One hundred years ago these three glaciers were all one big glacier, but have since melted to form into three smaller separate glaciers. When a piece of glacier melts away from the main glacier it earns a name, as long as it retains the principle of over 100 feet think and around 25 acres. With this size and mass of snow, water and ice the glacier has enough weight to continue to move thus giving it glacier status.

Our walk goes quickly there is so much to look at including a full view of Lower Grinnell Lake.  Grinnell Lake is about 800 feet directly down over the cliff to our left.  It is shimmering with rippling waves from the morning breeze.  Next thing you know we are standing by a waterfall that is running full.  To imagine what I might mean by full: stop reading right now and go find 10 of your best friends.  Have each of these friends throw a bucket of water on you in quick succession. Make sure the water is just above freezing, so around 33* degrees should do the trick. Before you get your ten friends to throw the water at you, drag a 20 foot ladder around as you will need to head on up the ladder while your friends are giving you a good dousing from above.

I went first though this waterfall and with the shock of the cold water and the unevenness of the steps I fell forward.  Thankfully I did not do a face plant, but by the time I got myself righted and moving up and forward again, I had gained several pounds of water weight!  Oh, baby I was soaked, this gives a whole new meaning to spring fresh!  Kathi and our new friends from Nebraska eye up their chances at the waterfalls on the steps.  They each take their due turn at the morning shower.  We all look like drowned rats...  We share a good laugh at the interesting hike and continue on up the trail.  

We arrive at a several snow fields the trail crew people are working on.  They are happily working away at shoveling snow fields into snow steps for us.  Some of the snowfield they are shoveling on still have the markings of the blasting powder in the snow.  At times we also could smell the blasting powder still lingering in the air.  All of this adds interest to the beautiful day.  

At last we walk up to the final overview rock pile of moraine revealing the entire basin of Grinnell.  The glacier has melted so much it now has created a lower Grinnell lake and an upper Grinnell lake.  You can walk right up to the upper lake and touch the water.  I was able to pick up a small chunk of ice.  In this frozen lake you can see large ice berg formations that later this summer will bob around in the lake. The toe of the glacier is receding back up against the mountain wall and will soon no longer be a glacier in technical form.  

We have lunch with the father and daughter and then go our separate ways to explore this area.  Kathi and I gather a few tiny rocks that have just melted out of the glaciers ice.  So either they are very new rocks or well preserved old rocks.  

After a time of picking around we head on back just in time to be stopped by a very large ranger groups standing by Elrod's rock.  There are so many hikers in this ranger group that they plug the trail. A traffic jam on the trail.  We have to stop and listen to what the ranger is talking about. Back in what Setember 1997  Vice President Al Gore came to Glacier to give a speech on global warming.  After the speech he took a hike on up to Grinnell Glacier, which is a retreating glacier and a perfect example of how fast the choices we make in our environment increases melting these glaciers.  
I have included an article I found on line about the events of the day:  

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19970903&id=GWJWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rv
EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6649,824788

The back story the Ranger told is while Al Gore was making his speech the secret service were very busy "securing" the woods.  Those secret service guys are all hiding with their guns all along the trail tucked up into the woods to protect the Vice from anyone who might want to harm him.  And with every secret service agent is a Park Ranger with his bear spray keeping the secret service guy safe from any bear that are in the area.  I'm sure the bear popping out was way more of a possibility than a person hiding in the park with intentions of harm.  

Anyway Al Gore hikes all the way up to this huge rock called Elrod's Rock.  (This rock marks where the toe of glacier was in the year 1924.)  Al ducks back behind the rock where he had a person waiting for him.  Al Gore needed to freshen  up with makeup and fresh clothes thus staging him for another camera shot as he first viewed the glacier.  

The ranger who was telling this story was responsible for getting the camera guy up the trail and into position for the fresh Al Gore shot.  She said the camera guy had a huge camera and was rather out of shape.  He was really huffing and puffing up the trail.  

On our return to the water fall, Kathi and I put our rain coats on to cover us and our packs while we duck on through the falls.  Rain gear is a way better choice for this water falls!  As we are shaking off our jackets and putting them back in our packs, Kathi sun glasses are no longer in her possession.  The glasses are sitting on a rock back on the other side of the falls, she had taken them off while putting on her rain gear. Now she has to go back through the falls to retrieve her glasses and then come back to the spot we are standing.  She is getting really good at the duck and climb!  By the time she gets back from her double shower, her feet have taken on quite a bit of water down through her socks and have swamped her boots.  Hey, but her boots were waterproof from the outside, so I have done my job as the head waterproofer. I can not be held accountable for what comes in over the top of the boot, right?

We finish the hike with no bear sightings, yeah!  Of course we did not see any moose either because we were rather loud.  I just don't think It is on my bucket list to meet up with a grizzly while hiking.  Seeing him through a binoculars way up on a mountain side  different from the mountain that I am standing on seems more inviting!

What a special day, we have the special privilege of seeing Grinnell Glacier and reaching the milestone of hiking 150 miles during this trip on the same day.  Our vacation is not necessarily planned to see how many miles we can hike during our vacation days, but more about how can we see as many majestic sights as we can.  Today was another wonderful Glacier National Park beauty!