It’s been a long time, Grinnell. You had me at ‘Hello’.

There is one hike that totally epitomizes all that the Many Glacier Valley has to offer.  And that is a trip out (and up) to Grinnell Glacier.

George Bird Grinnell has been called the father of Glacier National Park.  As one of the first explorers in the area (and conservationists),  he saw it for what it was back in the 1800s.  A place to be set aside the preserved for future generations.  His passion for the future park and his skills in the art of politics created what we all enjoy today.

I’m almost embarrassed to say that I haven’t been out to the Grinnell glacier complex in FOREVER (the mountain, the point, the falls, the lake, the receding glacier itself).  Why is that?  The obvious answer is I’ve always had a lot of other hikes to do.  But in reality, the trail is commonly in full sun and pretty crowded.  But with so much history of the Park revolving around this destination, I think it was time to take a scenic trip back through time.

Of course, it helps when you factor in that the trail had been closed the entire summer and just opened (so not like I really had a chance to hike it earlier in the season).  Plus I had a couple of Buckeyes in from THE Ohio state to keep me company.  Although sometimes company like this reminds me why I hike so much alone.  Been a while since I’ve heard this much bitching and complaining.  But that just comes with the territory.  With an early start, we take a wonderful walk down to the back of the Many Glacier Valley, with Mt Gould and the Garden Wall to welcome us.

The trail is only around 10 miles round trip with a nice 1600′ of gain,  but it is still a real hike.  It’s amazing how many families we saw on this dusty boot path when returning to the trailhead, all beaten and bleached in the open sun.  Guess they didn’t read the trail description.  No water as you trek up the steepness to the upper basin and the wall that constitutes the Continental Divide.

Off to the far left, I see an old friend.  Piegan Pass peek-a-boos and gives me a wink.  That nice little knob there to the left is Cataract Mountain.  Been there a few times.  It does look like a dumpy little molehill,  but the climb never really gets old.  After all, how can climbing mountains ever get boring and commonplace?

Slowly but surely we work our way up the hillside above Grinnell Lake and angle towards the glacier basin.  With such a late spring everything is still so green.  There are even a few Beargrass with fading blooms.

Unbelievable wildflowers in early August.  These meadows should have all been burned by the summer sun by now.  You really cannot have asked for a better day to hike thru this incredible backcountry.

Up into the final basin we come.  It clearly feels like going back in time.  To the period when Grinnell himself was first here in 1885.  This place, this cirque lake, is what inspired him to begin the lifelong quest of creating a national park (no small task).

Buckeye Number One poses on a rock below the Garden Wall, complete with its famous diorite sill.   Or for you non-geologists, also known as an igneous intrusion.   Or for all of you morons, let’s just say lava (and not the bar of soap from the 80s).

At last the famous Grinnell Glacier.  Basically now just a glorified melt pond.  With a lot of seasonal snow this year to confuse about just how big (or how small) this living blob of snow and ice may be.  But for the tourist looking for the last of the 25 or so glacial unicorns that still exist in the park, this will give them at least one photo to show their friends before it’s uploaded to the Cloud and never looked at again.

A wonderful side profile of Mt Gould,  and up to the right there rests tiny little Gem Glacier.  It is still hanging in there after all of these years.  I think I read somewhere that it finally stopped moving, which would make it now just a glorified permanent snowfield.  So sad we have to classify everything in life.

Up close and personal with Salamander Glacier, and the permanent waterfall that is constantly sucking away its life and draining the melt water to all of the lakes below.   At least in the summer time that is.

My first time up here was as a kid at the tender age of 19,  seems like so many years ago.  I can say firsthand that the glacier has greatly receded and melted back to a shadow of its former self.  Or is that just a personal metaphor for myself?  I’m thinking the glacier and I are both in the same boat.  A literal Ship of Fools? Just ask Robert Plant. (Everyone knows I love the 1980’s)

A nice foolish photo was taken along the long hot dusty trail back down the mountain.  Some beautiful ferns juxtaposed with some wonderful red  Grinnell argillite.  That’s one thing about Glacier Park, it helps to know your rocks.

Without a doubt, the Grinnell Glacier trail is one of the most popular and heavily trafficked trail in Glacier Park. A literal must-do if you are on the East side in the Many Glacier Area. And f have not personally been up there in probably close to fifteen years. That is a very long time for a lover of GNP like me.