Swiftcurrent — Blog — Josh Rutledge Photography

This last July, 2023, my sister Melissa and I decided to hike to Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park. It was a hike we had talked about doing many times before, but just never had, so we made it a point last summer to finally do it.

The sign at the Iceberg Ptarmigan Trailhead.

The trailhead for the hike leaves from behind the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn in Many Glacier on the east side of Glacier National Park. This is the same trailhead you would use if you wanted to hike to Ptarmigan Tunnel (Lake) or even locations passed there. There is a small parking area right at the trailhead, but it fills up quickly so you may need to park in the bigger parking lot in front of the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and walk behind the cabins to the trailhead. There is also the option to hike from the Many Glacier Hotel as well, but of course that will add to the distance of your hike. As with all areas in Glacier National Park, I would recommend getting to the trailhead early, as parking anywhere close by might become impossible. Your other option is to wait until later in the afternoon when people have started to leave for the day, but make sure you leave yourself enough time to finish the hike. For the average hiker it is probably a 4 or 5 hour hike. Luckily the summer days in Montana are long. Also check on the reservation/ticketing requirements for the Many Glacier area as it tends to change year to year.

This area is home to many grizzly bears so I would be sure to bring along bear spray on your hike. We saw a grizzly bear within the first mile or so of the hike. It was a rather quick encounter so I was not able to capture any photographs or video of the bear. And we heard reports from other hikers that some others were spotted that morning as well. There are also a lot of moose in the area. As is always the case in Glacier National Park, the weather can be very unpredictable so be sure that you are prepared for a variety of conditions. It can be difficult to predict when the trail will be open year to year, but typically it is from late June/early July into early October. If you arrive too early in the season the trail might be closed all together, or there may be snow/ice fields you have to cross to get to the lake. Check with the rangers if you have any concerns about the hiking conditions or if the trail is open. Besides the weather, sometimes the trails are closed because of bear activity. The benefit of going earlier in the season is that there tends to be more “icebergs” in the lake than there are later in the season. But, if you wait and go in the fall you may be able to experience some fall colors and the crowds will be less. If you wait too late however, there may already be too much snow up high to get to the lake.

It is about a 10 mile hike round trip (assuming you leave from the trailhead at the Swiftcurrent Inn) with over 1,200 feet of elevation gain. I have seen different quotes between about 1,200 and 1,500 feet, so I am not sure what the correct elevation gain is. It is not a particularly challenging hike, some of the worst of it is actually the first quarter mile or so from the trailhead as it is a rather steep ascent up to where it meets the Ptarmigan Trail coming from the Many Glacier Hotel. Eventually it does even out some and from there it is a more continuous gradual elevation gain up to the lake.

Wildflowers and the Ptarmigan Wall near Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park.

Some paintbrush flowers along the trail.

Some small white flowers on the trail to Iceberg Lake.

A Dusky Grouse we observed on the trail to Iceberg Lake.

As you hike, you will see some awesome vistas of the mountains and the valley below. Unfortunately the day we were hiking there was a lot of smoke from wildfires up in Canada, so some of our view was obstructed and it also added weird lighting to some of my photographs. Depending on the time of year, you will see a variety of wildflowers and animal species along the way. As I mentioned earlier, keep your eyes open for bears and moose especially. It is a very popular trail, so if you are uncomfortable hiking in bear country, ask if you can join some other hikers for safety in numbers.

Melissa crossing over the bridge that is just above Ptarmigan Falls.

About halfway through your hike you will find yourself at Ptarmigan Falls. Unfortunately you never get a great view of the falls due to the terrain. But you can see a pretty good portion of it through the trees. As you arrive above the falls, there is a nice rocky area that is a popular spot to rest and maybe have a snack. There is also a primitive pit toilet in the area as well. As you leave the falls, you will cross a wooden bridge and you will have a very good picturesque view up the valley and the creek running at your feet below into the falls. This is also the area where the trail splits to either continue on to Iceberg Lake or go up to Ptarmigan Lake/Tunnel. Stay to the left to go to Iceberg Lake.

The creek crossing just before you get to Iceberg Lake, with the Ptarmigan Wall in the background.

From there you will continue to climb for another couple of miles as you start to close in on the base of the Ptarmigan Wall and a small lake that is kind of an offshoot of Iceberg lake, I do not know if it has a name. While we were there, there was an amazing field of wildflowers surrounding the small lake. As you continue up the last little climb you will cross the creek again and you will start to get your first glimpses of where the lake will appear. After you step out of the last grove of trees, Iceberg Lake and the surrounding cliffs will be right in front of you. It is very difficult to capture just how imposing the cliffs are in front of you. You really have to see it to believe it.

Ice floating in Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park.

Of course we stayed at the lake for some time. We dipped our tired feet in, and it was VERY cold. For a second the cold water felt good, but it quickly became too cold for me. I have seen pictures of people swimming in the lake, but no one was brave enough the morning we were there, but lots of people did wade out into the frigid waters. We ate a snack, rested for a little bit, enjoyed the views and then started the hike back down. Since we had got a pretty early start, we passed a lot of people coming up the trail as we were going down. I was glad we got there early to avoid the crowds.

Another panorama of Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park.

Despite the smoky conditions, the hike was awesome. Next time I may have to try the Ptarmigan Tunnel trail, as I have heard there are some spectacular views from there as well. I know some people have completed both sections of the trail in a single day, but I am not in good enough shape to do that. Later in the summer of 2023, we also did a hike to Grinnell Glacier which was also amazing. Both hikes are awesome, but I think the Grinnell hike might edge out Iceberg Lake, but only by a little bit, as my favorite. I will write a blog about our hike to Grinnell later on, so please check back.

We were actually in the park for a couple of days on this trip, so here are some pictures from the rest of our time in the park. For our hike I had my Canon R5, Canon RF 24-105, Canon RF 100-500 and my GoPro Hero 11 Black. I also had my Canon 600 F4 version 2 lens along for this trip for wildlife when not on our hike. As with all of the pictures in the blog, you can select the image for a larger pop out view.