The hike to Cracker Lake is 13 miles round trip, with 1450' of elevation. We were done by about 2 PM.
On our first visit to the park, we met a few people who told us what a wonderful hike the Cracker Lake trail was, so I definitely wanted to check it out on our return visit. Although this trail starts from the Many Glacier Lodge, just like the Grinnell Glacier hike, and it also leads to a beautiful view of a glacier, the number of hikers on this trail was much fewer. I am not sure why that is true, both hikes are special. The Cracker Lake trail does allow horses on the trail, so perhaps people are afraid of the horse poop, but we went on a dry day and it was not an issue. Maybe on a soggy wet day things would be nastier.
Once again we started early, not long after sunrise. We had only gone a mile or so when there was a startling snort in the nearby bushes - a bear?! - but then we saw a big female moose trotting off on the Cracker Flats. That was an unnerving moment!
Despite the fact that the Cracker Lake trail gains 1450' of elevation compared to 1600' on the Grinnell Glacier hike, the Cracker Lake trail seems much easier. I believe that is because the Cracker Lake trail climbs for most of its distance, while the first half of the Grinnell Glacier hike is along the level lake shore and it packs in all of its elevation gain in the second half.
It was windy at Cracker Lake, and cool. We talked to three guys who had camped out at Cracker Lake the night before, and one guy told us that the wind had damaged his tent.
The sun illuminated the beautiful water at Cracker Lake, the turquoise color is impressive to see. The glacier seemed well protected from the sun at the base of Mount Siyeh, so maybe this one has a chance of surviving past 2020, but all that water in Cracker Lake had to come from somewhere...
All the graphic images are my own, but the textured background is taken from a site, EOS development, that offers non-profit users free use of their graphics. Click below to visit their site.
Single click on any thumbnail to open photo in new window. (You don't need to close the previous photo to click a new thumbnail.) Place your cursor over any thumbnail to see the picture title.
Cracker Lake Hike Photos
