Scenes from Glacier National Park: Day 6
The last full day of exploration of Glacier National Park with my group was centered around the Iceberg Lake hike.
At the beginning of the trail (maybe a half mile in), we noticed about a half dozen people not moving forward. Turns out they spotted a bear in the vicinity. We noticed that it was a bear mom with two cubs. A few minutes of waiting and we proceeded forward with caution. Not more than ten minutes later, we saw another bear mom with two cubs. At first, these cubs climbed a tree but then they walked down. It was unclear what was going to happen with the bear mom protecting her cubs, so our group leader told us to stay back as we let the bears have ample space to cross the trail, if they wanted. At this point, about twenty people were lined up, almost single file, waiting for this bear and her two cubs to cross the trail. We stood patiently waiting, and eventually the bears made their way down the hill.
I didn't get a good photo of this bear encounter (as I didn't have a long lens attached and I was in the back of the group), but a participant in our group captured a great photo:
Bears advancing on the Iceberg Lake trail. Photo credit: Steven Werner.
Does it look like the bears are smiling as they are coming down?
After the morning bear encounter, it was a bear-free walk for the rest of the hike.
The Iceberg Lake trail.
Scene from the Iceberg Lake trail.
Shortly before the trail ends at Iceberg Lake, there is a smaller lake (I believe it is unnamed) where our group decided to rest and eat our picnic lunch.
The unnamed lake near Iceberg Lake. Great spot to rest with fewer visitors compared to Iceberg Lake.
Views of the unnamed lake.
As we were eating our lunch, we noticed a couple of moose in the distance:
Moose on the hills.
Just prior to arriving to Iceberg Lake, we noticed a mama moose with her calf feeding on the nearby bushes. They were so close to the trail that a ranger had to step in and ask people to stay away at least 25 yards from the animals.
A moose and her calf on the Iceberg Lake trail.
The moose walked around Iceberg Lake and even went into the water. At an elevation of 6094 feet, Iceberg Lake is surrounded by Mt. Wilbur towards the south, and Iceberg Peak and the Continental Divide to the west. I walked around the lake to capture a few photos:
An iceberg floating in Iceberg Lake.
A view of Iceberg Lake from an unmelted snow patch.
A vertorama (two images stitched together) of Iceberg Lake.
Detail of the rock formations in Iceberg Lake.
This guy had the right idea to bring a hammock...
After about an hour walking around the lake and relaxing, we turned around and started walking back to the trailhead. Along the way, we paused to take some photos of wildflowers:
Beautiful wildflowers on the Iceberg Lake trail.
The Glacier blog series is complete. I will probably do a wrap-up post with my favorite images in the future; doing so will also allow me to post some new images which I've had additional time to review and post-process.
If you want to see the previous Glacier National Park blog posts, the previous entries are linked below:
- Day 1 (Lake McDonald and Avalanche Creek)
- Day 2 (Logan Pass and St. Mary and Virginia Falls)
- Day 3 (Logan Pass trail and Hidden Lake)
- Day 4 (St. Mary Lake and wildflowers)
- Day 5 (Grinnell Glacier hike)