Mendehall Glacier from the West side

Terry and Oso invited us for a Sunday hike to go along the West Glacier Trail (map - look for West Glacier Trail. This trail has an elevation gain of 1340 and gave some great views of nugget falls and the Mendenhall Lake , and a different perspective of the glacier. We have had a string of about 5 days of bright blue cloudless skies and 70+ weather so we brought plenty of water with us. Like other trails around here, the trail was well maintained, especially for the first several miles. Wide and well-packed. There were a couple of places where you could access the lake and shoreline and given a lawn chair, cold gin and tonic, sunglasses and a good book - this would have been the spot. What were we doing with packs and hiking boots. What is the matter with us!

We were walking through filtered trees so it wasn't too hot - and we we climbed we crossed several small creeks, waterfalls, and other water resources. Here the water was running over and through the rocky trail.


Here's a view from above the front edge of the glacier as its melting away and nugget falls through the alder trees.


And the glacier - nugget falls (which many of you have hiked to from the visitor's center) and mendenhall lake. Its really quite large - I had no idea when we see it from the visitor's center just how big it really is. There's small islands and peninsulas all over the lake.