Parking
Park at the Bartlett River / Bartlett Lake Trailhead near Glacier Bay Lodge and Park Headquarters at Bartlett Cove; follow the Bartlett River Trail for about 0.7–0.75 mile to the signed Bartlett Lake branch.
Overview
About Bartlett Lake Trail
Bartlett Lake Trail is a rugged out-and-back from the Bartlett River / Bartlett Lake Trailhead at Bartlett Cove to the shore of Bartlett Lake. The verified mapped corridor is about 4.58 miles one way, so plan for approximately 9.2 miles round-trip. The National Park Service describes this as a full-day hike through Southeast Alaska temperate rainforest.
Why go
- Longest established route from Bartlett Cove for real backcountry feel
- Stretches of genuine solitude once you’re past the early miles
Heads up
- Persistent mud, bogs, and slick roots make it much slower than mileage
- Brushy alder sections can be frustrating and time-consuming
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Glacier Bay map
Full mapElevation3–200 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Glacier Bay Tour Guide
Your drive to Bartlett Lake Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Glacier Bay National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
The Muskeg: A Carnivorous GardenListen
“If you’re on a boardwalk over a wet, spongy landscape, you're in a muskeg. It’s a peat bog, sitting on land that's still springing back up after the glaciers retreated a couple hundred years ago.”
Plays on the road 0.3 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Glacier Bay Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Bartlett Cove: The Heart of the Park
- The Rainforest Nursery
- Visitor Information Station: Backcountry Mission Control
- Listening to the Bay
- 37 audio storiesacross Glacier Bay’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Humpback Whale, Orca, Brown Bear, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 3 trails, 45 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Bartlett Lake Trail
Trail ExperienceBegin on the Bartlett River Trail from the Bartlett Cove trailhead. After roughly 0.7–0.
Begin on the Bartlett River Trail from the Bartlett Cove trailhead. After roughly 0.7–0.75 mile, follow the signed Bartlett Lake branch as it climbs the moraine and continues through spruce–hemlock forest, moss-covered boulders, wetlands, roots, mud, and small creek crossings to Bartlett Lake. The lake trail is less maintained than the shorter Bartlett Cove routes, so wayfinding and footing require attention.
Difficulty and TimePlan on a moderate full-day hike; the NPS trail guide estimates 7–8 hours.
Plan on a moderate full-day hike; the NPS trail guide estimates 7–8 hours. The main challenge is wet, uneven footing and route-finding rather than steep climbing. The route is slow after rain and deserves extra daylight and weather margin.
Tips and LogisticsWear waterproof boots with strong traction; rubber boots are commonly useful in Southeast…
- Wear waterproof boots with strong traction; rubber boots are commonly useful in Southeast Alaska’s wet conditions.
- Carry water, lunch, rain gear, extra warmth, and trekking poles for roots, rocks, and boggy sections.
- This is bear and moose country: make noise in brushy areas and carry bear spray. Pets are not permitted on park trails.
- Start at the Bartlett River / Bartlett Lake Trailhead near Bartlett Cove and follow the Bartlett River Trail to the signed lake-trail branch.
AlternativesFor shorter Bartlett Cove hikes or wetter-day alternatives, consider the Forest Loop, Bartlett…
For shorter Bartlett Cove hikes or wetter-day alternatives, consider the Forest Loop, Bartlett River, or Tlingit trails. They share the same rainforest setting without the full-day commitment.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Glacier Bay
98 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
48 sightingsOrcaMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
110 sightingsBrown BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
312 sightingsSea OtterMost seen around 4 PMSighting map
106 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
93 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Glacier Bay. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
