6 September 2015, Sunday

We were encouraged last evening to see the clouds breaking up and a little
blue sky, but it started raining again as we were getting in the
tent. A steady downpour continued all night. It was about 40º F
in the tent, even colder outside. Although we tried to sleep in
late hoping for the rain to stop, it outlasted us. We got up around 8
and baked a biscuit with dried peaches, pears and brown sugar in the
middle.

By noon, we are cleaned up and ready to hike despite the questionable weather.
There is even more fresh snow on the mountains surrounding us and we
are not sure how deep it will be as we hike to higher elevations. We
both have on lots of layers and are pretty warm. We find the
trailhead for Iceberg Lake. It is 5 miles to the lake with about
1200-1300 feet of elevation gain. As we start up the trail we meet a
young couple from Netherlands. We chat with them as we hike,
intermittently shouting, “Bear, hey bear!” or using our clackers.
We make good time, but eventually decide to let them go on ahead. We
like a bit slower pace.

Our hiking book explains that this trail is very popular and can have
“wall-to-wall” people on it. Today it is relatively quiet given
the cold and the rain and the sleet and snow at higher elevations. As
we pass the half-way point around Ptarmigan Falls we meet some hikers
coming down the trail. One woman tells us, “You’ll never make it!
It’s slushy and slippery and there’s a wooden bridge you have to
cross that’s too dangerous. O assures her (and other hikers that warn
us) that if we need crampons or snowshoes, we will turn around.

As we ascend, the rain turns to sleet mixed with snow. There are several
inches of snow alongside the trail and there are some slippery areas,
but it is certainly passable. Hikers coming down tell us they’ve seen
a mama bear with three cubs on the trail. We clack the clackers more
vigorously.

Finally, we arrive at the “dangerous” wooden bridge. It is 3 planks
wide. After my experience on Isle Royale it’s a piece of cake to
cross. We arrive at Iceberg Lake. There is one iceberg floating
there. O and I joke that it would be called Icebergs Lake if there
were more than one. It is beautiful; another teale colored lake
surrounded by rock walls with an eagle soaring overhead.

We meet up with the Netherlander couple and they offer to take our photo.
After a quick snack we start back down, taking our time to enjoy the
scenery  and take more photos. We see a bighorn sheep on the ridge
above us as we walk along the trail. For awhile, the sheep stays just
ahead of us on the ridge above as we walk. We return to camp too late
to cook supper if we want to hear Ranger Bob’s talk on the geology of
Glacier, so it’s off to the lounge for sandwiches and more Moose
Drool and Mountain Man Ale.

From
Ranger Bob we learn:

• There is a basalt intrusion between the sedimentary layers at Glacier that has caused contact metamorphosis of the rocks above and below  into low-grade marble.
• Col: head wall of a glacier
• Arete: sharp spine between two glaciers (as in Ptarmigan Wall which we hope to see tomorrow)
• Horn: Mountain peak carved by at least three glaciers.
• Argilite: (besides being a pirates favorite rock, per Ittai) is like shale but
  formed at higher pressures and therefore harder.  It is intermediate
  between shale and slate in hardness.