Hiking Glacier-Grinnel Glacier

Mitchell and I had hike into Grinnell lake in 2008 but I was left wanting to see more in this complex. I returned with Kurt in 2009 to hike the upper trail into Grinnell Glacier. This hike would come on the heels of our Iceberg Lake trek the previous day and we felt it. We grudgingly set stiff legs in motion and plodded the six miles of trail up along the mountain side. The views of Grinnell lake were stunning to say the least. This trail, while less eye pleasing, just slightly, than Iceberg lake trail, had some neat features to let the hiker "into" the landscape. We stepped through small streams and snaked narrowly around cliff faces and even walked through a cooling water fall at one point. The most difficult portion of the trail is by far the last mile and a half with a steady climb up rocky terrain but when you crest that last knoll and stare down at the glacier it is truely awe inspiring. It has been reduced dramatically in the past decades but we really appreciated what remains and took special stock in the fact that perhaps as soon as Kurts future kids this my be an empty rock dish and he will only be able to tell them of past hikes as a kid when it was a glorious ice pack. This is a very draining hike in the mid summer heat on tired legs but it is such a humbling and rewarding trek that we will certainly tell stories of it for years to come.