Parking
Use the Many Glacier Picnic Area lot at the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead; Many Glacier Hotel is an alternate start. A seasonal restroom is listed at the trailhead.
Overview
About Swiftcurrent Lake Trail
Why go
- Mostly level shoreline walking
- Views of the lake, the historic hotel, and surrounding peaks
- Two shorter wheelchair-accessible sections
Heads up
- The more wooded south and east stretches have fewer open lake views
- Only portions are identified as wheelchair-accessible
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Glacier map
Full mapElevation4,879–5,003 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Glacier alert
- ClosureTwo Medicine Campground closed for 2026 constructionTwo Medicine Campground is closed throughout 2026 because of construction in the Two Medicine developed area.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Glacier Tour Guide
Your drive to Swiftcurrent Lake Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Glacier 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.
See the Glacier audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Grinnell Glacier Trailhead0:00 / 0:28
“You’re coming up on Grinnell Glacier Trailhead, the start of a demanding hike to a turquoise lake beneath the glacier and the Garden Wall.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Glacier Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Iceberg Lake Trailhead
- Swiftcurrent and Redrock Falls
- Many Glacier Hotel
- Swiftcurrent Falls
- 204 audio storiesacross Glacier’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grizzly Bear, Wolverine, Mountain Goat, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 157 trails, 91 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Our first time to glacier and we used the audio portion for Going to the Sun Road. Wonderful information with perfect advice of what to see and do along the road.”
Trail guide
Hiking Swiftcurrent Lake Trail
The full lake loopSwiftcurrent Lake Trail, also known as Swiftcurrent Nature Trail, is a 2.
Swiftcurrent Lake Trail, also known as Swiftcurrent Nature Trail, is a 2.6-mile loop around Swiftcurrent Lake in Many Glacier. It stays near the shore for most of the circuit and is relatively flat, with about 260 feet of total climbing. Allow about 1½ hours with stops. Choose it for a low-key lake walk and mountain scenery rather than a major climb.
Pick your startStart at the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead beside Many Glacier Picnic Area, or join from Many…
Start at the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead beside Many Glacier Picnic Area, or join from Many Glacier Hotel. The stored distance covers one complete lap of Swiftcurrent Lake. The turn toward Lake Josephine adds a different outing and is not included here. The connection from the picnic lot to the lakeshore is short; the full distance is for the lake circuit.
The shorelineOpen stretches put the water and mountain walls in view.
Open stretches put the water and mountain walls in view. On the south and east sides, the trail passes through more woods and the lake drops out of sight more often. It crosses Cataract Creek and Swiftcurrent Creek on bridges, then returns to the developed shoreline near the picnic area. The loop is scenic, though it is not an unbroken chain of open-water views.
The hotel and the viewMany Glacier Hotel stands on the shore and is part of the scenery.
Many Glacier Hotel stands on the shore and is part of the scenery. Built in 1914–15 by the Great Northern Railway, it opened on July 4, 1915. Look across the lake toward Grinnell Point, Mount Gould, Angel Wing, and Mount Wilbur. Shoreline photos work best with a strip of water in the foreground.
Accessible stretches, restrooms, and petsTwo shorter shoreline sections are identified as wheelchair-accessible: 0.
Two shorter shoreline sections are identified as wheelchair-accessible: 0.9 mile one way from the hotel and 0.75 mile one way from Many Glacier Picnic Area. Those are partial segments; they do not establish that the complete 2.6-mile circuit is wheelchair-accessible. A seasonal restroom is listed at the trailhead. Dogs are not allowed on park trails or undeveloped lakeshore.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Glacier
404 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
11 sightingsWolverineMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
1,173 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
1,000 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
395 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
506 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Glacier. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
