Grinnell Lake

Grinnell Lake is the turquoise lake at the end of a Many Glacier hike, tucked below steep mountain walls. You reach the shore on foot, not by car. If the lake is your priority, the concession boat makes the walk much shorter: the full approach is 3.4 miles each way from the trailhead, while the boat-assisted route is 1.1 miles each way, with 60 feet of elevation gain listed for either approach. The shorter route is still a hike, just a far smaller one.

The concession boat from Many Glacier Hotel costs extra and doesn't take you all the way to the lake. Visitors describe two boat legs with a walk between landings, then the walk to the shore. Check the return schedule and leave room for those connections. Without the boat, you trade that timetable for a longer round trip through wooded sections.

The trail has stretches under trees, with bridges and streams along the way. Some visitors enjoy the varied approach; others find the wooded miles less interesting than the lake itself. The big payoff comes at the shore: vivid blue-green water with a steep mountain basin rising behind it. People often stop here to rest or eat a packed lunch, so bring something if you want to linger.

Hikers report seeing bears, moose and deer along the route. Treat those as lucky sightings rather than a sure thing; the lake is worth the walk even when the trail stays quiet.

At the water, include a few of the colorful rocks along the shore at the bottom of the frame, with the turquoise lake and mountain wall behind them. That foreground helps show the lake's color and gives the steep basin some scale.