We decided to spend the day hiking the West Glacier Trail.  It is a 7 mile trail with a gain of 1,300 ft.   The guide book says that it is 'not recommended for inexperienced hikers'.  But it didn't say anything about stupid ones.  So, we thought we'd try it.

Along the way, Carla picked up some granite, hematite, and slate.  She was having fun loading her pockets and adding to the weight she had to carry for the remainder of the hike.

The path started to get messy and steep.  There is so much snow still at higher elevations that there are many places along the path where the snow melt makes the path pretty sloppy.  There are also many places where climbing was necessary.  After this incline we decided to put the camera away and focus on our climbing.

This was taken about 1/2 way up the trail.  It's a closer view of the Mendenhall Glacier and one of the waterfalls.

After the hike, we went to the Mendenhall Visitor Center.   The 'X' in the picture marks the spot where we ended our upward climb and turned back.  The Mendenhall Glacier is on the right.  The chunk of floating ice is called a 'growler'.  It was calved off the glacier.

After our hiking adventure, we decided to hang around the visitor viewing area.  Mom, if you're concerned, our feet are firmly on the ground.