SEEING A GLACIER IN COLORADO

We have been to glaciers in both Canada and Alaska before but not in Colorado. We discovered the St. Mary's Glacier, located about 40 miles west of Denver, just past the town of Idaho Springs which has an elevation of 7,555 feet above sea level. The 9 mile drive from I-70 north to the glacier was mostly upward along a two-lane road, with several hair-pin turns and no guardrails. We did pass several areas where there were bunches of mail boxes and even a few "school bus stop" signs. Yes, people live year-round in what we would consider wilderness.

The two parking lots are actually parcels of land owned by local residents and used as income producing property. There is a drop box to pay $5 to park on their lot with a "unauthorized vehicles subject to towing" sign prominently displayed.

We walked along a country road to the trailhead and saw this sign. The elevation at the trailhead is 10,400 ft. above sea level.

The trail started out looking like this. It is easy to see why the website described this hike as "over rocky terrain". There were plenty of rocks, giving us uneven footing for the first part of the hike. Also, notice the incline going upwards. This trail gives you the impression it was once a creek bed or stream leading down the mountain from the glacier.

Eventually the trail became less rocky. Still, not smooth by any means, but much more bearable. The trail was still going up.

Eventually we came to a clearing where we could see the foot of the glacier. We immediately noticed that the air became cooler and the wind was blowing steadily. If you look closely, you can see a small stream just to the right of the bottom of the glacier. This water is running down to feed a small lake below the glacier.

This is a view of St. Mary's Lake from the foot of the glacier. The lake water was crystal clear and very cold to the touch. We are now at an elevation of 10,800 feet!

We were alerted to winter danger by this sign. Even in July, there were some hikers carrying skis and snowboards to ski or slide down the glacier. I'm sure in winter there is plenty of skiing and snowboarding here.

As we got closer to the glacier, you could see how it just "flows" downward in a small valley in the land surface.

The lake looks smaller from here.

This photo was taken part way up the side of the glacier.

We enjoyed spectacular views looking in every direction. This was the view away from the glacier. Notice we are now above the tree line, meaning the climate is too harsh for trees of any kind to grow.

Although this hike was short in length, we were challenged by the constant altitude gain to near 11,000 ft. above sea level. The views were spectacular! I'm not sure we could have taken this hike back in May when we first arrived in Colorado due to the altitude factor.

We rewarded ourselves with a cold beverage and lunch at Tommy Knocker's Brewery and Pub in Idaho Springs. This is one of the better beers we have tasted in Colorado.