Iceberg Lake

Grinnell Point from Willy's kitchen window

It was one of those beautiful Montana mornings - cool and dry.  There is a local joke that Montana has two seasons - Winter and July.  Granted it was the end of July and we had had 30 inches of snow at 6,000 feet about three weeks earlier. We were now camped at about 5,000 ft in the valley between Mt Grinnell and Mt Henkel near Swiftcurrent Lake.

Willy camped under Grinnell Point

Pamela was outside with the G-3, our three old dogs with whom we share our 16 foot vintage trailer we call Willy. Ranging in age from 9 to 13, one of them is blind and two are deaf.  It is never permissible to turn your dogs loose in a campground but in the wilderness you stay with them at all times lest they become breakfast for some animal further up the food chain.  I was standing at the kitchen sink making coffee. Actually I was spending more of my time starring at Grinnell Point 2,200 feet above us. We had a perfect view from the kitchen window.

We had just finished our three month tour-of-duty as volunteers at Sprague Creek Campground on Glacier National Park's west side.  Now we were taking some time to explore the east side of the park.  The Many Glacier area is very popular and has many outstanding hikes. Don't tell anyone but the first thing we did when we arrived the night before was to head out to Fishcap Lake around sunset in hopes of finding a Moose. You shouldn't really be wandering around the woods after dark but we were almost to the point of desperation to see a Moose at Glacier.

Deer at Fishcap Lake

There are a lot of Moose at Glacier. There was one spot near Sprague Creek I visit frequently where there will be fresh skat (poop!) and all the signs of Moose but no Moose. The only Moose we had sighted were in other parks. We had been told that Fiskcap Lake always has Moose around sunset.  Guess what? No Moose.(1)  But it had been a nice hike and we watched a beautiful deer wading through shallow water.

Fishcap Lake looking southeast at Grinnell Point. 

The mountains on the east side of Glacier are very different from those on the west side. The west side is part of the pacific coast rain forest so the forests are dense with tall trees and a heavy canopy. The tree line seems to go higher on the west side but the reality is that where we live on the west side is the lowest point in the Rocky Mountains. We live at 3,200 feet. We tease the east side staff saying that they really have easier hikes and climbs because we have to start at 3,200 feet and climb to 8-10,000 feet while they start at about 5,000+ feet. The mountains on the east side of the park are very barren. It is much easier to see the thrust (2) from west to east.  It is as though you are looking at the raw end. There is a magnificent ruggedness to the east side that we don't have on the west side. Of course on the west side Lake McDonald is flanked by lateral moraine that is about 5,000 feet high. That is much more conducive to tree growth than the raw ends of a thrust. Some people think that we have more rain on the west side since it is called a rain forest but I was told that there is only .25" difference. The east side, however, has more wind which causes moisture to evaporate more quickly.

Looking east along the Ptarmigan/Iceberg Lake Trail

While we love the thick, lush forests of the west side wilderness, we were in awe of the rugged beauty of the east side and we were planning to spend the day hiking through this magnificent country. After breakfast, bedding down the dogs and dawning our hiking gear, we set out on the Ptarmigan Trail toward Iceberg Lake.

Heading in a northwesterly direction the trail climbs quickly from 5,000 feet to around 5,600 feet and then starts running along the side of Mount Henkel at that elevation. We broke out of the trees in little more than a half mile. The vistas were breath-taking. We hadn't been out of the trees too long before we were passed by a Ranger who was in a hurry. There was a bear jam up ahead and he had to break it up.

When we arrived on the scene about a mile and a half from camp the light cinnamon colored bear was 20-30 yards up the mountain from the trail. There were a number of hikers standing there watching it with the Ranger trying to get them to move along. We moved past the crowd and up the path a few yards we turned and watched.  The bear was ignoring the people. S/he had to know they were there. The Ranger thought it was a black bear. We had our doubts. You have to remember that Black bears - Ursus Americanus - can come in any color, just as can the Grizzly - Ursus Arctos Horribilis.  I don't like the Latin name for the Grizzly because it isn't a horrible animal, but I guess I have to live with it. To differentiate between the Black and the Grizzly there are six main points of difference - hump, ears, face, claws, paw print and coat.  The Grizzly has a hump on its shoulders from the massive muscle. Their ears are smaller and rather round, Their faces are dished. The Grizzly claws are as long as a human's fingers which gives it a different print, and its coat appears grizzled. Actually there are three names for the Grizzly - Silver point, Kodiak, and Grizzly. It gets the name Silver Point because the tips are actually a silvery white. That's what gives it the grizzled effect. In my own encounter with the two types of bear I find that the Black Bear appear to have just come from a groomer and the hair is all the same color. The Grizzly looks grizzled, almost unkempt and is usually multi-colored. The Grizzly also has a narrower rump with the Black Bear being more pear shaped. This particular bear was more grizzled and had small ears. There appeared to be a hump and it didn't have the nice wide rump of the Black Bear. Our money was on Grizzly.

Look west on the Ptarmigan toward the Ptarmigan Wall

It didn't really matter. Either way the bear was about 70-80 yards too close and the Ranger was undoubtedly concerned. Park rules are to stay 100 yards from a bear. A bear can run at 40 miles per hour. We have talked to Rangers who were chased by a Grizzly as they were riding their bicycles down a mountain. The Ranger said that the bear got so close to catching them that he could hear the bear's claws click on the asphalt. We were neither on duty nor in uniform, so we took some pictures, admired the bear for a moment and then moved on. We weren't worried about the Ranger. He probably went through that routine a dozen times a week.

Ptarmigan Falls

We turned our attention to the trail ahead that stretched out before us like a ribbon. There was very little elevation change in the next mile plus.  We were headed toward Ptarmigan Falls, hiking along between Mount Wilbur (9,321 feet high) and Mount Henkel (8,770 feet high) and ahead of us was the Ptarmigan Wall.  In the picture above, the peak in the distance slight left of center is Iceberg Peak and is 9,146 feet high. Our destination is the cirque lake right below that peak.

Ptarmigan Falls is where the Ptarmigan Trail parts company with the Iceberg Lake Trail.  It is just a bit over half way to Iceberg Lake. At this point we had hiked 2.7 miles and had another 2.1 miles to go.  If you take the Ptarmigan Trail you head almost due north in the valley between the Ptarmigan Wall and Crowfeet Mountains to Ptarmigan lake. It's a good elevation change in that 1.86 miles. You climb about 900 feet.  But that's nothing compared to climbing 575 feet up in 4,380 ft distance from Ptarmigan Lake to the tunnel. Once you have passed through the Ptarmigan Tunnel you are met with one of the most fantastic vistas in the park.  But our sights were on Iceberg Lake.

Mt Wilbur and the cirque around Iceberg Lake 

As we went our separate way from the Ptarmigan Trail, heading almost due west, we emerged out of the trees and in the distance we could make out the cirque in which lay Iceberg Lake. We stood for a moment in awe. That happens to us a lot when we're hiking through the Rocky Mountains. Below us was a deep valley about 500 feet to Iceberg Creek at the bottom. The trail would take us up another 400 feet and then go along the Ptarmigan Wall between the tree line and enormous scree field, crossing several snow fields.  It was still over two miles away but Pamela was determined to finish the course despite the arthritis pain in her knees.

Approaching Iceberg Lake

The reward was worth the effort. It was a perfect example of a cirque. The lake is the remains of a glacier. Even though it was the 21st of July the lake was still over 80% frozen with great chunks of ice, the icebergs, sticking up from the ice and snow covered lake. There were also icebergs floating in what little open water there was.

There must have been a dozen other hikers sitting around the lake taking in the beauty. It hadn't been a particularly hard hike but it had still been almost five miles of wilderness trail so the majority of hikers had taken off their boats and were lying on the large flat rocks that had been warmed by the sun.

Pamela and me just above Iceberg Lake

Even though we weren't in uniform our hats had the volunteer logo so people asked us all sorts of questions. Pamela enjoyed what she loves doing most; viz. telling visitors about the marvels around them. While she was explaining the geology of the area around us, one of the visitors tapped me on the shoulder.

Pointing to a dark spot on the side of an ice field about half way up to the 9,321 ft peak of Mt. Wilbur the visitor asked "is that a mountain goat?"

I got out my binoculars. "No," I shook my head, "it a crazy human trying to killing themselves." There on the steep ice field was a person without any climbing gear trying to make their way to Wilbur's eastern ridge.

We were distracted from watching the Mt Goat wanna-be by a family with three teenage children.
They were laughing and teasing each other as they removed their hiking boots and socks while still moving toward the water.  It seemed they had a challenge going on. Who could stay in the cold Iceberg Lake water the longest.  The winner stayed in the water just over a minute. But that prompted the rest of us to go wading.  After all how many people can say that they went wading in an iceberg filled glacial lake.  Of course none of us lasted more than a matter of seconds. Within 10-20 seconds your feet start going numb and it hurts. But everyone had a great time.

We stayed at the lake as long as we could but we  still had a 4.84 mile hike to get back to camp. Thankfully this close to the summer solstice it was quite light well into the evening.  On the solstice it really doesn't get totally dark.  But we did want to get back at a reasonable time. Feeling refreshed and very much alive we put our socks and boots back on, hefted our packs, and started back toward camp. On the way back we were treated to a sighting of a Ptargiman after whom the trail, lake and tunnel is named.  It sat unperturbed by our presence as we quietly passed.

As we approached Many Glacier several trails converge and we became part of a flow of tired, happy hikers returning after a day of adventure in the marvelous mountains of Glacier National Park all talking excitedly about their experience.

No matter how often we go out into the wilderness it is never old. Quite the contrary, each time is a greater adventure because our growing experience enables us to see more and more around us. This particular evening we splurged. Instead of cooking in Willy we went to the Italian restaurant at the Swiftcurrent Lodge that didn't have spaghetti. (That just makes me laugh every time I think about it.)  Returning home we succumb to the wonderful feelings of exhaustion and satisfaction. By 10 pm we were in bed knowing that we are among the luckiest people on earth for tomorrow we will do it again.


You ask me why I dwell in the green moun­tain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown,
I have a world apart that is not among men.       Li Bai (3) 


FOOTNOTES.
===================================
(1)  I have seen only one Moose in Glacier since this story and poor Pamela still hasn't seen a Moose at Glacier. To pour salt in an open would, we had a Moose Jam (where traffic is stopped and backed up because of people stopping to watch a Moose) less than a mile from where we lived and we missed it!
(2) A thrust is where a part of the earths mantle is broken by a fault and pushed or "thrust" up over the other side.
(3) LiBai  http://www.theclymb.com/stories/passions/mountaineer/5-great-poems-about-mountains/