![]() That deposited into deeper water with minimal oxygen ended up being green. Sediment deposited in shallow water reacted with oxygen resulting in reddish colors. Then, seawater lapped a shoreline 50 miles west of Glacier National Park. The ice sculptor also exposed colorful layers of rock deposited over a billion years ago in the ancient Belt Sea. The glacial horn Mount Wilbur (9,231 feet) rises to the southwest. When ice scoured rock on three sides, a horn remained. Straight ahead to the northwest are the pinnacles of the glacial arete named the Ptarmigan Wall. 3 Aretes, knife-edged ridges, resulted when ice rivers worked on two opposing sides of a mountain. 1ĭuring the Great Ice Age, that began around two-million years ago and ended around 12,000- years ago, enormous glaciers filled the valleys and ground away at the mountains like a gigantic rasp. And, this only goes back one-third of the way to Earth’s beginning. Trying to comprehend the time that has passed from the early stages of sediment eroding from a lifeless Earth surface to what we see today stretches the imagination. The stories behind the chiseled, multilayered mountains make the trip even more spectacular. It’s wise to check this information before heading out. The park maintains a webpage with closures and postings for trails and backcountry campgrounds. Keep your bear spray where you can access it quickly, and know how to use it. Be wise and let them know where you are by making noise. Both black and grizzly bears come to take advantage of this food source, and you will pass through their cafeteria. During July and August, berries are ripening. ![]() I should also note that the Ptarmigan Trail and the Iceberg Lake Trail go through prime grizzly bear habitat. One should dig a small cat hole to bury paper or solid waste. Using an average adult pace distance of 2.5 feet, then 80 paces should put one at about the correct distance from the path or surface water. If that doesn’t work out, the potty zone is at least 200 feet from the trail and any water. There is a pit toilet about 2.6 miles from the trailhead just before the footpath crosses Ptarmigan Creek. If not, a polite request should do the trick. Use your favorite friendly greeting so that the people ahead know that you’re there. Know that it’s considered rude to crowd folks in front of you. It’s a lot easier for me to move to the side than it is for the entire group to do the same. That being said, if I’m alone going uphill and encounter a group coming down, it makes sense that I yield to the group. Generally, hikers going uphill have the right of way. So, a few words about trail etiquette are in order. Ask the park rangers if any of the trails or areas are closed at the time before beginning on a hike.Iceberg Lake is a very popular hike. This area is known to have bears and so hikers are advised to carry bear spray, stay in larger groups, and make noise when going through areas with particularly high bear activity. As the trail comes to the lake, visitors will get to walk through an Alpine meadow, and depending on the time of year, see many wildflowers in bloom. The walls of the cirque are actually an arete, also known as the Ptarmigan Wall, and towers 1500 ft above the trail. Continuing past the waterfall and keeping left at the trail junction, hikers will eventually exit the forest and be greeted by the steep walls of a cirque, whose basin holds Iceberg Lake. Along the way is the Ptarmigan waterfall, though it is hard to get a full view of it from the trail, and the area around the waterfall is very steep and unsafe for hiking. However, about 1.5 miles into the trial, hikers will go through a thick forest as they progress towards Iceberg Lake. From the trailhead, the trail will go through a very open area, which is where the views will be stunning. Starting at the Swiftcurrent Inn, the trail steadily climbs in elevation, though once hikers reach the fork in the trail and continue to the left, the elevation levels out for a bit. Along the way, hikers will have incredible views of several of the peaks in the area: Mount Grinnell, Swiftcurrent Mountain, Mount Wilbur, and Ptarmigan Wall. The lake sits at the basin of mountains carved by glaciers thousands of years ago. ![]() A pleasant trip into Glacier National Park, coming out to be about 9 miles round trip.
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