| The Many Glacier area topographical map. Thanks to the National Geographic Trails Illustrated people for this beautiful and well made map.
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| After a steep initial climb up the slope from the trailhead, a view of the vallery opens. At the far end is our destination.
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| Water streams down in many places from the snow melting.
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| Holly noticed this first. In the first picture, can you see it? Look at the far right of the horizontal rock outcropping, the little dark speck.
We were good hikers the entire time we were there... making noise as we walked along. It was at the beginning of this hike we found two solid rocks each that we banged together as we walked. If you cup your hand a bit, you can produce a sharp noise that carries well.
In the first picture, you see the bear, the first and only we would see during a hike, a couple of hundred yards up the slope. In the second, third, and fourth you can see the bear lift its head and then later stand up to get a better look at us. We made sure he knew we were there before continuing.
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| A little closer...
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| The Ptarmigan Wall comes into view
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| Back to the southwest, from where we came
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| Water trickles down
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| The edge of Mount Wilbur with Grinnell Point in the background
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| Peak of Mount Wilbur
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| At the top of Ptarmigan Falls on Ptarmigan Creek. The falls continue over the drop. We stopped here for a few minutes. A backpacking couple about our age passed through on their way into the backcountry. Just beyond the falls they would turn north and head up to the Ptarmigan Tunnel, which burrows through the Ptarmigan Wall you saw in earlier pictures. From there they would descend into the Belly River area and continue on a 4-5 day loop. I was only a little bit envious. However, knowing the weather they were headed into and seeing the size of their packs, I probably wouldn't have traded with them. They had already been there a couple of days, but the rangers wouldn't let them go until the weather cleared a little.
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| The Wall wraps around where the Iceberg Lake lives, and the cliffs make their own weather as warmer, moist air pours over from the other side.
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| The sub-alpine forests toward the end of the hike, where the trees grow smaller than they should.
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| Just before reaching the lake, there is a log bridge over the creek.
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| The meadows on the shore of the lake grow slowly and would be trampled by the many visitors. However, there were very few people we saw along this hike in late September.
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| Iceberg lake. This vertical wall rises 3000 feet, so it is hard to get perspective on the size of the lake and cliff from these photos.
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| Chipmunk, just like the ones we have back in Virginia
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| Ptarmigan falls, from the front on the way back
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| While we were busy looking to our left up the slopes for the bear again on the way back (still cracking our rocks), I caught something out of my peripheral vision to the right. Moose.
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| I don't go too far out of my way to find a good picture, and sometimes they just fall in your lap. I was looking down the trail, and I saw some puddles reflecting the peaks ahead across the valley.
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| I believe this is Grinnell Point
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| Signpost near the trailhead. As you can see, Iceberg lake is listed as 4.9 miles. Elizabeth Lake, where those backpackers were headed, is 10 miles!
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| We had some snow and light rain along the hike, but from the looks of the clouds pouring over the wall, we got back to the car just in time for the real weather. This helped us in our decision about where to stay that night.
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