LIST
Day 4 - 2012-08-09
Day 4 of the trip; "The Hike"
The hike of doom! Well, not really. However, the park signs and maps hadn't been updated along with the trail. The total hike was supposed to be a reasonable 11.6 mi, with an 800 ft gain in elevation and a loss of at least that much. 7 miles spent getting to a chalet* and 4 downhill after it. However, it turned out that the trail had been revisioned to aid in conservation and other things, and the reality was that it had now become ~15 mi.

The good news of this was that the trail and views were beautiful, and with 2 liters of water per person we were in no danger of dehydration.** Our choice of footware was questionable (and so were the socks). I came out with two blisters on the bottom of my feet, and everyone else more or less burned (hey, I offered the sun block!). Well, except my brother. Somehow he only got more tanned.

We also met some crazy people who decided to jog the trail. 4 were from MIT and were a group, the 5th guy was by himself and passed later. I didn't see any packs or water on hand, so I really hope they knew what they were doing. At least they looked in shape, unlike me. ("round" is a shape, right?)

There was also a place to view glaciers close up, but since it was .6 to .9 miles mostly "straight" up, only my brother decided to do it. He didn't even hike to the top of the rock some people did (the extra .3ish miles). The blue in the pictures he took there is uncovered ice. This color also helps explain the color of the rivers in the park, which are fed by run-off of melting glaciers and perennial snow fields (so our Red Bus guide said).

* The chalet turned out to be more like a hotel, you paid to stay there and they offered you a room. It cost more for "bedding service" and for meals. You could of course bring your own sleeping bag or bedding and they provided a kitchen to cook your own food if you brought any.

** Information about the chalet noted it did not have any water. The reality was that they had a cistern not too far off from the chalet that had been purified but it was not enough to cover everyone who came by. Those who underestimated the trail and ended up at the chalet without any water left were directed to the cistern by a ranger.

We passed at least one group that had a bottle of bear spray. The park service did maintain lists of trails and places closed due to bear activity or other natural problems (like weather or land slides), but thankfully none had been reported near this trail. We did walk through some places that seemed bear habitable (had berries), though. We also met people with bells (not recommended anymore), and a guy blowing a whistle while banging on a metal cup with a metal spoon. It was annoying, but we didn't see any bears and it kept my Dad from singing. Not that he is a terrible singer, but you know the whole parents/child "you're embarrasing me" thing ... Plus all he could remember was half of a sea chanty which got repeated at least 6 times.

I could probably go on and on about this trail, but just look at the photos. All I can say is when we were done, we were glad to see the free shuttle bus that took us back to our car.