Grinnell Glacier
| Trail Features: | Outstanding views, Glaciers, Alpine Meadows |  |
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| Trail Location: | Many Glacier Hotel Boat Dock | ||||
| Roundtrip Length: | 7.6 Miles | ||||
| Total Elevation Gain: | 1840 Feet | ||||
| Avg. Elev Gain / Mile: | 484 Feet | ||||
| Highest Elevation: | 6515 Feet | ||||
| Trail Difficulty Rating: | 11.28 (strenuous) | ||||
| Parking Lot Latitude | 48.79667 | ||||
| Parking Lot Longitude | -113.65815 | ||||
Trail Description:
The Grinnell Glacier hike begins from the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead, located about a half-mile past the turn-off for the Many Glacier Hotel. However, you can shave 3.4 miles off your roundtrip hike by taking the two shuttle boats across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine.
The following description for the hike to Grinnell Glacier begins from the boat dock at the Many Glacier Hotel. Please note that there is a fee to ride the two boats.
The express boat shuttles hikers across Swiftcurrent Lake in about 8 minutes. From the landing on the south side of the lake you’ll take the paved trail over to Lake Josephine. This short 0.2-mile walk climbs about 80 feet before descending back down to the lake. From here you’ll board the Morning Eagle and take the 12-minute shuttle across Lake Josephine.
From the boat landing on the south end of Lake Josephine, hikers should take the trail that leads to the right. In a very short distance you’ll reach the Grinnell Glacier Trail junction where you’ll turn right to proceed towards your destination.
From the junction the trail circles around the south end of the lake. Most of this segment is on a raised boardwalk to keep hikers above a wet marshy area. Immediately after exiting this short section you’ll reach the junction with the North Shore Lake Josephine Trail, which veers off to the right. The trail to Grinnell Glacier continues up the hill, and from this point will climb a thigh-burning 135 feet over the next one-tenth of a mile.
Roughly 0.4 miles from the
boat landing you’ll reach another trail that branches off to the right.
This trail
hooks up with the North Shore Lake Josephine Trail in a short distance,
and
takes hikers back to the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead in Many Glacier. To
continue on towards Grinnell Glacier, turn left here. From this junction the
Grinnell
Glacier Trail flattens out for a short distance and allows hikers to
catch
their breath.
At roughly three-quarters of a mile you’ll have your first views of Grinnell Lake in the valley below. Walk a little further and you’ll also see Grinnell Falls tumbling hundreds of feet down the headwall behind Grinnell Lake.
There are three glaciers that are visible as you proceed up the valley. Sitting just below the Garden Wall is The Salamander. This is the dominating glacier visible from Lake Josephine, as well as during the early portions of the hike.
As the trail continues to climb
hikers will pass through beautiful alpine meadows with numerous
wildflowers, and
will see a couple of small waterfalls tumbling down the cliffs of
8851-foot
Mount Grinnell on your right. After climbing a couple of switchbacks,
roughly
1.8 miles from the boat landing, look above Grinnell Falls for your
first good
view of Grinnell Glacier.
At 2.2 miles you’ll reach a stretch of trail that begins to hug a cliff. There are a couple of stretches where the path hangs on a fairly narrow ledge with some pretty steep drop-offs. If you take your time, however, most people shouldn’t have any problems here. You should also keep an eye out for bighorn sheep and mountain goats in this area as well. On our most recent hike we saw at least 15 bighorn sheep, most of them rams, resting and grazing in the meadows just below us.
As with all the other trails in the Many Glacier area, you should be aware that you're traveling through prime grizzly bear habitat while on the Grinnell Glacier Trail.
In 2010 Columbus Zoo keeper and television personality, Jack Hanna, was charged by a 150-pound grizzly bear near this stretch of the trail. Hanna, along with three other hikers, rounded a blind corner near Thunderbird Falls and encountered a grizzly with two yearling cubs. The bear was only 10 feet away before Hanna was able to repel the bear on a third burst of pepper spray.
At 3.2 miles you’ll reach a
small
picnic / rest area where you’ll find a couple of benches, for those
needing a
breather, as well as a pit toilet.
Above the rest area the trail begins to climb a series of steep switchbacks through a boulder-strewn moraine. As you proceed up this short section take a moment to look down the valley for a grand view of Grinnell Lake and Lake Josephine, as well as Sherburne Lake in the far off distance.
Roughly 3.6 miles from the boat
landing hikers will finally reach
the Grinnell Glacier Overlook where you’ll have commanding views of the
152-acre
glacier, Upper Grinnell Lake, the Garden Wall (and Continental Divide),
as well
as 9553-foot Mt. Gould. Looking towards the southeast, in the notch of
the
Garden Wall just below the summit of Mt. Gould, is Gem Glacier, the
smallest
named glacier in the park.
In years past rangers would lead hikes out onto the glacier itself. However, as a result of its retreat in recent years, rangers no longer take groups out onto the ice. The park does allow visitors to venture out onto the glacier, but they highly recommend that you don’t go alone, or go too far. It’s especially dangerous when there’s fresh snow on the ground, which can hide deep crevasses.
In 1850, at the end of what has been referred to as the Little Ice Age, Grinnell Glacier, combined with The Salamander, measured 710 acres in surface area. As of 2005 it's shrunk to less than 200 acres.
The glacier was discovered in 1885 by George Bird Grinnell, an early American conservationist, explorer, and founder of the Audubon Society. Grinnell was so inspired by the scenery during his first visit to the area that he spent the next two decades working to establish it as a national park.
Interestingly, during his final visit to the glacier in 1926, Grinnell noted in his diary that "the glacier is melting very fast and the amount of water coming from it is great. All these glaciers are receding rapidly and after a time will disappear."
Be sure to bring your north face jackets for winter since hiking near the glacier can get quite cold.
