Grinnell Lake Trail

Grinnell Lake Trail is an easy out-and-back from the south Lake Josephine landing to a shore below Grinnell Falls. Plan on 2.2 miles round trip from the landing and about 1.5 hours, longer if you stop at Hidden Falls or linger. The mapped centerline measures about 1.26 miles each way, so a GPS track can come out longer than the rounded distance. This is a good short hike when you can take the boats: the walk is modest, but the last view lands in a big glacial basin.

The starting access is the south end of Lake Josephine. Concession boats cross Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine from Many Glacier Hotel, then drop you near the trail junction. Tickets and boat service are separate from the walk; check current service before planning around a crossing, since operations depend on season, water and weather. You can walk to the lake from the hotel too, but that is a different, much longer outing: the hotel-to-lake walk is about 3.4 miles one way. Walking back the same way makes it about 6.8 miles; another shoreline circuit uses the north shores on the return for about 7.2 miles. Don't mix those distances with the 2.2-mile landing-to-lake route.

From the landing, the route winds through forest, passing a few small streams and thimbleberry patches; boardwalks lift the path across boggy ground. Keep straight when the route splits toward the Grinnell Glacier Trail. There is also a signed spur to Hidden Falls near Cataract Creek. The falls detour is short but climbs steeply, so it's optional. The main line crosses Cataract Creek on a suspension bridge less than a mile from the landing. It can move underfoot. One more spur, to Feather Plume Falls, comes before the lake; neither side trip is included in the distance above.

Grinnell Lake sits below Grinnell Falls, which drops in white ribbons from the far rock wall. Look for the edge of The Salamander above the falls, Angel Wing to the south, and Mount Grinnell north of the basin. The lake shifts between emerald and opaque turquoise as the light changes; fine glacial sediment gives it the milky blue-green color. This is the point to stop and look instead of turning around immediately. From the shore, put some water in the foreground and keep the falls high on the rock wall in the frame so the photo reads as lake, waterfall and basin together.

George Bird Grinnell first visited the region in 1885 and returned in 1887, exploring the Swiftcurrent and St. Mary valleys and naming many of their features. He wrote and organized for a national park, helping build support for Glacier's creation in 1910. The glacier that carved this basin left behind cirque lakes, sharp peaks and steep-sided valleys; those forms are why the place looks so enclosed from the water.