Advertisement
Published: July 18th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Hiking around Lake Josephine
Beautiful lake with great views of the mountains and wild flowers. Grinnell Glacier is in the background. Greetings from Glacier National Park! Next year will be their 100th anniversary and they are already starting the celebration. The park is as beautiful now as it was when we were last here 37 years ago. A new feature which is great is a shuttle bus system that runs east and west across the park. Cuts down on traffic across the park and makes it possible to go on the Going to the Sun Highway and across Logan Pass at 6646 ft. without driving. Makes it much easier to see the spectacular views. We drove it on Wednesday since we wanted to get to the Many Glacier area which doesn't have shuttle bus access. David is riding the shuttle today so he can see the view. Can't take your eyes off the road to enjoy it if you are driving.
On our first day in the park we traveled to the Many Glaciers area. We did a 6 mile loop hike around Swiftcurrent and Josephine Lakes. From the western end of Lake Josephine you get an excellent view of the Grinnell Glacier. This glacier has melted significantly. Need to look at old pictures, if we have one, for a comparison.
A mountain view near Logan Pass
Heading east on the Going to the Sun Highway west of Logan Pass the views are spectacular with grand vistas and steep valleys. It is expected that at the current rate of melting there will be no glaciers in the park within 20 years.
After our hike we decided to do some kayaking. Lake Josephine is linked to Swiftcurrent Lake by a small river. The boat launch is on Swiftcurrent so we decided to kayak across the lake and then go up the river into Lake Josephine. We knew it would take some paddling since we would be going against the current and against the wind. It turned out that the wind or the current weren't the limiting factors. The water was so shallow in several places that you either got stuck or just couldn't get the paddle in the water far enough to make any headway. Ended up needing to walk the kayaks up in a couple of places. I fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your perspective) brought my flip flops to wear in the kayak instead of my Keen water shoes. Therefore, I couldn't walk upstream without losing my shoes. David being the chivalrous person he is walked both of our kayaks up. What a guy! He reports that the water was just a little nippy since it was coming
from glacier melt. We made it to Lake Josephine. Coming back was so easy it made us wonder how we had got hung up going the other way. David had brought a spare pair of pants with him in case he got wet. That was a good plan, but he had grabbed a shirt instead of a pair of pants. Since his pants were soaking wet from walking the kayaks he had to drive home in his undies with the heater on high to dry his pants.
Yesterday, we went on 2 hikes. Our initial plan was to hike to Sperry Chalet and back. Very ambitious since the hike is 6.4 miles one way with approximately 3400 ft change in elevation. In the past we had hiked this trail, but only coming down which is a killer since you continually come down for the 6.4 miles. Going up wasn't any easier and after 1.5 miles of steady uphill in the trees with no view, we decided we really didn't need to see the chalet. We are here to enjoy the park, not win a competition. So, we returned to our starting point and had lunch at the Lake McDonald
David at Avalanche Lake
Note the waterfalls from snow melt in the background. Several of them across the mountain behind the lake. Lodge. We then completed the day with a 4 mile round trip hike to Avalanche Lake. Beautiful views on the way up and at the lake itself. Great hike.
We have a couple more days here. Lots of trails so will do more hiking and kayaking since there are plenty of lakes.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.361s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0838s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sherry
non-member comment
Enjoyed!
I've been wondering what you've been up to, so was nice to get your travelblog. It is a beautiful park and you've got beautiful pictures. In our old age we do get smarter about our limits, don't we? We'll wait to hear from you again! Have fun, be careful, watch for bears!