Dad, Mom and Aunt Nancy took the return trip back to the hotel. On the boat, mom apparently struck up a conversation with some of the other passengers, one of whom it turns out she had briefly dated at Pomona College.
Lisa, Katie and I channeled our inner hikers and decided to take the two mile excursion through the forest. It was cold and muddy, but we learned a lot from our guide about the plants, wildlife, geology and history. The trail ended at the glacier-fed Grinnell Lake.
From there, we could look up at two of the park's remaining glaciers: Grinnell Glacier and the much smaller Salamander Glacier. Until a few decades ago, Salamader was part of Grinnell, but they are both melting at a fairly rapid pace. As one of our hikers noted, "they are on their last legs."
Luckily OUR legs were just fine so we decided to skip the first boat and hike back along the edge of Lake Josephine. As usual, Lisa led the way while Katie and I did our best not to complain about the terrain, weather, and the pace that Lisa was setting.
Good times...
