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Hiking to Glaciers in Glacier National Park

TIME : 2016/2/16 15:50:58

Glacier Park’s ice features are melting. But even though the glaciers are predicted to disappear by 2030, the landscape they shaped will remain, and there’s still time to hike to some of these amazing formations.

Ice and snow cluster around exposed striated rock.

Time is running out to view the park’s namesake glacial formations. Photo © Becky Lomax.

Blackfoot and Jackson Glaciers

From Going-to-the-Sun Road, Jackson Glacier Overlook and the next two pullouts east offer the best views of glaciers. Use binoculars to scope out the glacial basin across the valley or hike eight miles to get a closer look.

Sperry Glacier

From Sperry Chalet, climb up through tranquil lake shelves and the rock-hewn stairway at Comeau Pass into the scoured basin that houses Sperry Glacier. Follow rock cairns to the overlook of the ice—now reduced to about 200 acres.

Piegan and Sexton Glaciers

From Siyeh Bend on Going-to-the-Sun Road, hike the Siyeh Pass Trail. The route offers views of Piegan Glacier while climbing to the pass and Sexton Glacier while descending.

Grinnel Glacier

From Many Glacier Hotel, hop the early hiker shuttle across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine; then climb to Grinnell Glacier. Sit on the shore of the frigid iceberg-filled lake at the toe of the shrinking, fast-melting glacier.

Travel map of Going-to-the-Sun Road Hikes

Going-to-the-Sun Road Hikes


Excerpted from the Fifth Edition of Moon Glacier National Park.