Flute Glacier

The route to Flute Glacier splits from the Eagle-Symphony lakes trail at Eagle Lake, tracing the stream that feeds the lake back to its source, the glacier.

Alaskans have been criticized for building bridges to nowhere...

On the advice of a recent newspaper article, we circumnavigated the north side of the lake, which was contrary to the hiking guidebook recommendation. We made a poor choice, and had to suffer two miles of bushwhacking through head-high willow and alder along a steep slope. On the plus side, we did find the best blueberry patch we had ever seen.

We decided to climb up into this high valley on our return to avoid the nightmare bushwhack.

The impressive waterfall below the glacial valley could be a destination in itself.

Remains of a beaver dam.

We climbed up above the waterfall to the left to get into the high Flute Glacier valley.

Weeping walls 

Once we reached the high valley, the glacier is still another mile away. We hiked a little farther but did not have time to hike all the way in to Flute Glacier.

A thunderstorm quickly moved in and hailed for a few minutes.

The sun came out shortly after!

Crossing this stream was straightforward because the water was shallow.

I think the most difficult part of crossing silty glacial streams is keeping your balance when you can't see the bottom. The chocolate milk-colored water rushing past you can be really disorienting, and you have to feel carefully with each step to avoid slipping on uneven rocks.

We avoided bushwhacking around the lake by climbing into a hanging valley. We paused to pick blueberries while we crawled up the steep slope.

We saw two Dall Sheep rams climbing on this sheer rock face - crazy! Can you spot them in this picture?

This was the last ridge to crest, and then it was all downhill back to Eagle and Symphony lakes.

At the top - sunset.

We followed a mossy gully, with lots of good picnic rocks, back down to the ridge dividing Eagle and Symphony lakes.

I couldn't resist picking up a naive baby ptarmigan. Now it's afraid of humans.

At this time of year the mother is still close by, watching.

Bearberry leaves look like red tongues on the tundra

Sunset leaves some warm glow on the mountains. We got back to the car at 12 am on the dot (it was dusky dark by then).