Hiking - Grewingk Glacier Lake and Saddle Trail (Summer)

Grewingk Glacier and Lake

Stats

Distance:  4.5 miles                   Difficulty: Easy / Moderate                                 Time:  5 hrs

Summary

On 8 Jun 2013, the Kachemak Bay State Park had its annual “Trails Day”.  The purpose of trails day is to clean and repair the many managed trails in the park.  In addition to the maintenance hike, the state park also sponsors a guided family hike to Grewingk Glacier.  The hike started with a boat ride to the beach to take the Glacier Lake Trail to the glacier, the returned to the bay via the Saddle Trail.  

Since the start and end points are not the same, this particular route requires someone with a boat to drop you off and pick you up; if you don’t have a convenient friend with a boat, you can take one of the Water Taxis operated out of Homer.  This particular hike, as part of Trails Day, was sponsored and supported by Mako Water Taxi.

We did this hike before we started this blog, so we don’t have GPS maps of the route we took.  You can find good trail maps at the web site above.  We will upload a GPS track of the route the next time we take this hike.

Opinion

This is one of our favorite full day hikes; it is well worth the water taxi fee.  We also recommend planning a nice picnic lunch at the glacier.  The Glacier Lake Trail
is an easy, mostly level hike.   The Saddle Trail is steep, quite steep in places,  although if you take the hike as described, you will be mostly going downhill on the Saddle Trail, which is much easier.

We strongly recommend planning this as a full-day hike.  The hike itself is only a half-day, but the boat ride and the picnic lunch will take up most of a day and still leave you time for a shower and a nice dinner in Homer.

Trail Advice

There are no docks at either pick-up/drop-off point.  The water taxis have preferred tides that will drive the drop-off / pick-up times to a certain extent.

The Glacier Lake Trail wanders through the glacier moraine and can be quite hot, even in cool weather.  We strongly recommend you bring lots of water, wear a hat, and use sunscreen.

The mosquitos get fierce.  We recommend applying lots of insect repellent.

There are many hikes available in the Kachemak Bay State Park.  The following web site has some excellent information about the hikes, and the Homer water taxis can assist with drop off and pick up times and locations.  Unless you or your friends own your own boat, the Mako Water Taxi will take you to the beach and pick you up at the location of your choice: http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/kbay/kbaytrs.htm.

Suitability

The trail is suitable for anyone who can hike 3+ miles and occasional steep rises and drops.

Trailhead

This trail can only be reached by boat.  There are water taxis in Homer that will take you to the trailhead.  If you or a friend has a boat you can take it to the beach, but keep the tides in mind.

The Hike

Mako Water Taxi

The hike started with a fast trip to the beach near the trailhead courtesy of Mako Water Taxi.  Since this was a Kachemak Bay State Park sponsored event, Mako Water Taxi provided the water taxi service at a steeply discounted price.

Above the tide line

The hike starts on the beach about a mile from the trailhead.  We believe the drop-off point will vary based on the tides and the boat that drops you off.  The beach is the typical sand, small rocks and larger rocks composite.  Above the tide there are copses of dead spruce with a variety of plants at the base.  The plants include a wild pea that flowers an attractive blue in the spring.  Note: the peas are NOT edible although many of the other beach plants are.

The dead spruce are from the 1964 earthquake that dropped the ground by several feet leaving the trees too close to the shore and the water.  They died a long time ago, but the bleached white trunks are dramatic against the sky.

After the boat drops you off, hike East along the beach.  Stick to the high side of the beach so you can see the trailhead; it will not be visible from the waterline.  At the trailhead is a kiosk with trail maps (there are several trails that start at this point) and a log bock.  The state park asks that you log your party in before starting the hike.

Mossy rocks in the
Spruce Forest

The beginning of the trail goes through a spruce forest laced with Cottonwood and Alder.  Look closely as you go through this area.  There are a wide variety of edible berries along the trail: raspberry, salmonberry, currant, cranberry, elderberry, and watermelonberry.  You might also see moose or bear; we saw scat from both when we walked this trail.

Just before the forest gives way to the glacial moraine region, the trail splits.  The Glacier Lake Trail continues on directly to the glacier.  The other branch is the Grewingk Glacier Trail.  This trail crosses the glacial river via a hand pulled tram and ends at the edge of Grewingk Glacier.  We haven’t done that hike yet.

Shortly after the trail splits the forest starts to give way to the oldest of the many moraines.  The spruce disappears and only the Cottonwood, alder and occasional birch trees remain.  These trees are still relatively short.

In the moraine

As we got closer to the glacier, although still not able to see it, the moraines get steadily more recent and the trees get shorter, younger, and fewer.  The temperature also rises steadily; this area can be hot even by lower-48 standards.  About a quarter mile after the first trail split, the trail splits again.  The Saddle Trail breaks from the Glacier Lake Trail.  We continued to follow the Glacier Lake Trail.

First view of Grewingk

Soon after the trees had faded out completely and all that was left were low scrub, lichen and the occasional wildflower.  We crested a ridge and were able to see the glacier ahead of us.  The good news is that the temperature starts to drop; the glacier creates its own wind, which can be quite chilly.

Grewingk Glacier and Lake

The trail ends at the glacier lake.  At virtually every season the lake has several icebergs.  The wind from the glacier pushes them toward the shore, so most of the icebergs are close to the edge.  On both sides of the lake the spruce forests rise.  We stopped here for an hour or so and had lunch, walked the beach and took lots of pictures. 

We walked up the beach to the right as far as we could go to get as close as possible to the glacier.  The closest approach is still a long way away from the glacier face, but this viewpoint gives a nice, unobstructed view of the glacier.  Walking the beach in the other direction takes you to the glacier river and past most of the icebergs; the wind blows more toward the river and most of the icebergs end up on that side.

The face of Grewingk Glacier

When we were done, it was time to head for the pick-up point.  The first part of the route backtracked the Glacier Lake Trail.  This time we took the Saddle Trail, which headed off to the left.  The Saddle Trail quickly left the moraine and entered the spruce forest on the west side of the glacier.  The trees made the trail nice and cool.

For about a third of a mile, the trail climbed up to the to of the saddle that gave the trail its name.  This part of the trail was moderately steep, but not terribly difficult.  Once past the top of the saddle, the trail descends to the water via a series of switchbacks.  There are periodic areas on this part of the trail that are quite steep.  Walking this trail in the other direction is strenuous, but descending isn’t as bad.

The trail ends at a steep flight of stairs right at the edge of the bay.  This is where the boat comes to pick you up.  While you wait for the boat, you can look across the water for a nice view of Halibut Cove.