St. Mary's Glacier Hike

Yet another new hike!  We received a tip from a couple hiking the Beaver Brook Trail regarding the St. Mary's Glacier hike.  The name "glacier" seems to be a misnomer, it seems the glacier does not "move" and that changes it to a "permanent or semi-permanent snow field".  Signage still uses the word "glacier", I mean really how big would the sign be if "permanent or semi-permanent snow field" was added.  Anyway, no matter what it is called, we decided to add it to our list.

It was a beautiful drive up to the parking lot.  Before this hike I had no "glacier" experience.  I did take geology in college and I understood that moving ice can drag lots of stuff with it.  I guess I never thought about walking up all of those rocks!  Everything from gravel to boulders has been pulled down the mountain.

 

My feet were sore and I was tired from climbing uphill over rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  But it was well worth it!  This is my first look at the glacier lake.  So beautiful!

See what I mean, the glacier has made a beautiful landscape!  I could not stop taking pictures and I took way too many.  I try to only include a few pictures to illustrate this blog, not so many that my readers get bored.  But it was so spectacular!

One really fun aspect of this place was all the kids that hiked up to hang out around the lake.  They climbed around to the other side of the lake and jumped off a huge boulder.  By huge, I mean maybe 25 or 30 feet!  When they hit the freezing water they screamed wildly and swam like mad to get out of the freezing water.  The snow was still melting into the other end of the lake to keep it nice and cold.

We did not have time to hike to the other end of the lake and up the glacier, but it is a definite "must do" on our next trip.  We are planning to spend a lot more time at St. Mary's Glacier in the future!

The next thing was dinner.  We have a bad habit of getting back to civilization late and we need to eat!  So I took a shot at using the internet for a nearby dinner recommendation.  That seemed a little scary, but I70 is a huge highway and surely public opinion cannot be too far off??  We were pointed to Idaho Spring for BBQ at Smokin Yard's BBQ.  We knew we were in the right place when we saw two local sheriff cars!  What a perfectly run business!  Great service, friendly help, patio seating and food to die for!  Even had Boylan soda...they called it, "those sodas from back East"!!  It was a perfect end to a perfect day!