Glacier NP – 8/18/13 – Iceberg Lake & Ptarmigan Tunnel –
15.3 Miles
Okay, I’ll confess it out loud: I didn’t realize there would be, like, actual
icebergs in Iceberg Lake. I have seen
icebergs floating in Glacier Bay, Alaska, from the cushy comfort of a cruise
ship deck, margarita in hand, but I just didn’t make the mental connection with
Glacier National Park. Ah well…
Day 2 of our Glacier NP agenda began again in the Many Glacier
section, hiking to Iceberg Lake and Ptarmigan Tunnel (so if there are icebergs in the lake are there ptarmigans
in the tunnel??) The trail begins near
the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn complex, an assortment of buildings including a
motel, cabins, a restaurant and a gift shop with refreshments (very
important.) Marta accompanied us again for
the first leg, telling us it was a gentle, easy hike. Well, the overall trail gains only about
1,000 feet in 4.5 miles, but our group set a brisk trot pace at the beginning
going up stone steps to connect with the main trail. The masculine half of our crew quickly pulled
ahead while the rest of us walked and gawked at the wide open scenery
smorgasboard.
The cirque that encompasses Iceberg Lake with Mount Grinnell
on the far left – we’ll see that from a different angle later in the week
Monkey flower (Jeff’s photo)
Iceberg Creek (Jeff’s photo)
First glimpse of Iceberg Lake
Second look - icebergs!
Third look (Jeff’s photo)
Fourth look (Jeff’s photo)
We took an extended break at the lake’s edge (after all, isn’t
that why we came?) amongst humans and creatures. Here’s Cathy and a curious squirrel
Cathy, Dolores and me at Iceberg Lake
Marta put her toes in the lake and decided to stay awhile
before going back to her home. She was
kind enough to lend me her bear spray canister for the week (with a quick lesson on how not
to hurt myself). Then the rest of our
crew continued on our Y-shaped hike.
Next stop: Ptarmigan Tunnel.
Which meant backtracking halfway down Iceberg Lake Trail and
taking a left. The brief downhill was
forgotten as the uphill towards Ptarmigan Lake literally took my breath
away. Without Marta to set a leisurely
pace and conversation, the others were soon out of sight and I felt pulled to
hurry after them. I felt a sense of
protection from the bear spray on my belt and was no longer concerned about
hiking alone, but I still wanted to stick with the group. Jeff was behind me for a bit, claimed he was
taking care of his knees. At the lake we
caught up with everyone – they had stopped for lunch – but they immediately
started up the trail so I didn’t stop to eat.
Mount Henkel
Slogging my way up to Ptarmigan Lake (Jeff’s photo)
On Ptarmigan Trail
Big horn sheep mamas and young’uns were hanging around the
trail between the lake and the tunnel, ignoring us.
So what is Ptarmigan Tunnel?
Well, a ptarmigan is a bird commonly seen in Glacier NP. The tunnel is not a natural tunnel but was
blasted through the Ptarmigan Wall in 1931, facilitating a nice day’s ride on
horseback from Many Glacier to the Belly River area.
A nice description of hiking to PT with fantastic photos and
maps is here.
Eastern entrance to the tunnel
You gotta go through it (Jeff’s photo)
The other door (break on thru to the other side)
Elizabeth Lake in the Belly River valley
We were about two-thirds of the way through our hike now and
it’s all downhill in reverse (except for the uphills).
Again I was bringing up the rear and I spent the five miles back to the
trailhead having a conversation with myself about what I wanted out of this
trip. Everyone has a natural hiking pace
and I wanted to enjoy mine rather than chasing everyone else. Well…no one was asking me to! Now I had an invisible force field of bear
spray so I could hike on my own and it was up to me to enjoy this incredible
opportunity. One thing to pay better
attention to was making sure I ate. It’s
hard to have fun when your energy is depleted.
