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Iceberg Lake 2014
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It doesn’t take very long on the Iceberg Lake trail in Glacier National Park to understand why it’s perhaps the most popular hike in the Many Glacier area. A steep first section quickly gives way to a nice gradual ascent all the way to the lake with views all around. We had a perfect bluebird day with temperatures in the upper 70s that brought our wide eyes to the lake.
I was a last minute addition to a large group of friends heading over to the Many Glacier area. A friend’s sister was in town and we were giving her a taste of Glacier. Huckleberries were aplenty and later summer flowers such as Fireweed and Gaillardia were in bloom. We were stoked to still see icebergs floating out in the middle of the lake.
As far as extra curricular activity, I decided to perform my first swim in the lake. I did it with a little bit of style, by swimming out onto a ‘berg and then cannonballing into the water. Was it cold? Um, yes. To give you an idea, when I got on the snow, it didn’t feel any colder than the water and all you really feel is discomfort. It is, however, very refreshing and I’d do it all over again.
Another friend of mine, Josh Bowers (with the help of Garner Dumas), accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and had a bucket of Iceberg Lake water dumped on his head.
Comments
5 responses to “Iceberg Lake 2014”
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About how long does this hike take? 🙂
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The hike is 9.6mi long. On flat ground, a nice pace is 3mph, but when hiking, it’s up and down and you need time to soak in the view, catch your breath, etc, so I usually divide that by 2 (for 2mph) which would give me about 5 hours round trip. I would then add an hour for hanging out at the lake and lunch. So if you really hustled, I would say 4 hours at the low end, but more likely a 6 hour affair to make it enjoyable.
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I know this is a basic question as we have not hiked in Glacier before – when the description says 9.6 mile long, is that from Trail Head to the end (Iceberg Lake) or is the 9.6 miles total distance (out and back)? Just purchased maps for Glacier and Tetons – looking forward to the adventures. Thanks for helping a novice plan their trip!
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The 9.6 mi. is round trip. Check out the Glacier NP website under maps and go to the trail maps and it will show the “one way” mileages for many hikes. This one is shown as 4.8 mi. one way.
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Thanks 🙂
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