Exit Glaicer is just one of those places that even when you close your eyes weeks later you can't beleive was real. It reminds you why you love the outdoors and hiking... around everyturn there was something more beautiful and breathtaking... When our shuttle dropped us off, we stopped in the park ranger station to make sure we knew which path to take. He told us to take the paved path to a fork and then take the upper loop trail. From there take the lower loop and we would be able to see it all... Boy was he right... but what he didn't tell us was that while taking the upper loop we would have to cross water... glacier streams-- where the water has melted from the glacier coming down the mountain... No problem we sloshed and jumped our way across... then it was up up up-- the beauty of the trail made the hike bearable... it was twisty and turny-- very narrow in some spots and doable... then we got to the look out point where we were face to face with the glacier! It couldn't get any better than that??? lots of photos... and then down the hill to the bottom of the glacier!!! It was hard to hike and take in the scenery-- that and take pictures along the way-- I didn't want to forget a moment of this day.
Once at the bottom again we were faced with a water hazzard! Seems Mother Nature had her own way of protecting the glacier from tourists-- A much larger glacier stream... Mike and I walked up and down trying to find a way across-- but no such luck-- so off the shoes went-- we rolled up our pants- held our breath and took our chances! Trying to explain how cold the water was would be worthless-- lets just say if the sun wasn't shining I am sure that it would be a solid mass of ice!! With water almost knee high in places we made our way across-- and it was worth it! At the bottom of the glaicier we were able to actually walk right up to it... right on it.. and of course I had to drink some of the melting water.... (no fears... what you see that looks like pollution is actually just silt... this is pure clean water!) Of course we had to cross the stream once again to get back to the trail-- But it was worth it!!


We made our way back to the ranger station-- hung out there for a few minutes.. I got myself a passport for the national park system-- a very cool book that I can get stamped and stickered for each park I visit-- and there are tons that are on my to do list. We got back to the train station with little time to spare... perfect timing!