Glacier National Park

Hiking in Glacier National Park is sooo different from the Grand Tetons or Rocky Mountain National Park…




The reason for this, not surprisingly, is the glaciers. Sure there were some glaciers in those other places. But the difference in Glacier National Park is that the majority of the valley cutting was done through glacial forces, as opposed to primarily water erosion. Generally, when liquid water erodes a mountain, it does so uniformly. There are exceptions, like if a layer of rock is harder than others, resulting in crazy rock formations. But, generally, a mountain valley filled with eroded material will be in the form of a V.



Valleys cut by glaciers, however, are in the shape of a U. The glacier sits at the base of the valley and causes very little erosion beneath it, resulting in a relatively flat valley bottom. The mountainsides rising on either side of the glacier are exposed to the extreme melting and freezing power of ice. Water seeps into cracks in the rocks, freezes, expands, and pieces of rock tumble off the mountain onto the top of the glacier. This debris remains on top of the glacier as it slowly creeps down the valley. In this way, the glacier slowly eats away at the mountain base until only huge steep cliffs remain. When the glaciers receded at the end of the last ice age, these U shaped valleys were left behind.



So yeah, Glaciers are pretty monstrous, powerful, mountain destroying behemoths. But they’re not so tough. Megs and I showed this one who’s boss…

But I’ll get to that.



Back on topic. So, there are V shaped valleys and U shaped valleys. Big deal right? Well, when it comes to hiking, it definitely makes a difference… To this point we have been hiking mostly in V shaped valleys. This means that, although the hikes had a similar distance and elevation gain to U shaped valleys, the trails generally had a uniform steepness. This allows for the traveler to get into a rhythm and not get burnt out along the way. Basically, it is easy to know what you are getting yourself into when you look at the trail stats.



In a U shaped valley, trails are flat and easy for miles before suddenly gaining almost all of their elevation in the last couple miles. And it is brutal. Case in point, yesterday. Our hike to Avalanche Lake in the morning was through the bottom of a valley, very similar to a V shaped hike. So the 4 miles was pretty straight-forward and we came away from it feeling pretty good. Then we went around and started on the Cobalt Lake hike… It was flat and easy for miles before we were absolutely decimated by the .7 mile spur and the last 2 mile climb up to the lake. It’s like the trails lull you into a sense of false ease before laying the hammer down and destroying you.



At least today we were a bit more prepared for what we were getting ourselves into… Not that it made it any easier of a hike. But we were excited. We were hiking to a glacier!!



We traveled over to the Many Glaciers area, parked at the trailhead, and started on our hike to Grinnell Glacier. The first few miles were a leisurely stroll along a couple lakes…

Then the slope started in earnest and did not stop… At all. My ankle was still bothering me as well so I decided to take it a bit easier today and make extra rest stops along the way. And I was rewarded with some amazing views…

After about 6 total miles, half flat and half steep, we reached the glacier!!!!

Obviously it is September and the glacier wasn’t exactly there in all its glory, but it was still really cool. Still huge. And the aqua blue pool at its base was sweet, with huge icebergs floating around…

So, of course, we decided that we needed to explore. Another mile or so later, we reached the glacier itself!!!

And just had to touch it!! Don’t worry though, we didn’t climb on it. It’s actually ridiculously dangerous to do so with all the melting and hidden fissures and the like…

After all our exploring, it was getting pretty late so we headed back down. And I learned that my ankle just really hated going downhill…  But I made it back in reasonably good shape. Wicked tired of course. Another 12 miles or so of hiking, half of which was all steep grade.

But we touched a glacier!!!



We got back to the RV and prepared ourselves for our third and final foray into Canada!! The rest of the evening was spent crossing the border, thankfully with minimal trouble, and then driving 3 or 4 hours to a Walmart outside of Calgary.



Originally, the plan had been to do a quick morning hike and then spend the rest of the day travelling to and exploring Calgary. Then the following day we would travel the couple hours from Calgary to the Banff region and spend the day there. Obviously, we chose to spend more time in Glacier National Park…



So, in the end, Calgary was sacrificed in favor of the parks…