The Lake of the Hanging Glacier
Blocks of glacial ice the size of automobiles falling a thousand feet in the middle of the night will wake you up and leave you wondering if you are camping in the wrong place. The first time that my wife Barbara and I hiked into this spectacular setting we were astonished at what we found.
          First, an encounter with a full grown moose on the trail. Then the spectacular scenery when we arrived at the lake... A wall of ice a hundred feet high where the glacier enters the lake, with bergs calving into the lake. The crash and roar of ice fall from the hanging glacier. As we cooked our supper on our backpack stove a mountain goat wandered near by and continued to munch the vegetation within a stones throw of our camp. As twilight faded to a moon less darkness we were treated to the most spectacular display of Northern Lights that I have ever seen in my life.
          Does this sound like Alaska, or some place that would require months of planning and spending many dollars to get to? Well, yes it does, but most folks in the Spokane area are unaware that this spot can be reached in a long two day weekend or an easier three day weekend from Spokane, Washington.
          There are some challenges that you will need to deal with, however. After about a three hundred mile drive on excellent highways to Radium Hot Springs, BC, your go approximately 30 miles west up Horsethief Creek on relatively bad forest road with bridges that may or may not be washed out. The hike from the trail head goes through avalanche rubble and a tangle of avalanche downed trees up to a rather difficult river crossing of Horsethief Creek to the South. There may or may not be a footbridge here as it tends to wash out. Then the trail which may be difficult to locate on the south side of the creek ascends another 1,500 feet in steady switch backs until you see a striking waterfall, above which you will find the northern end of the lake as shown in the photo above.

To be continued...