Rock Glacier Trail, Kluane National Park

While we were driving along the Haines road on our way to Million Dollar Lake, we saw the rock glacier and promised ourselves a stop on our way back towards Haines Junction. The trailhead is about 44km south of Haines Junction, when we arrived at the trailhead we checked out the interpretive panel and set off up the trail. It is a short hike being only 1.6 km and with an elevation gain of only 90m it is very doable. The first part of the trail is along boardwalks until you reach the front of the glacier, then you begin to climb. From the top you are rewarded with a wonderful view of Dezadeash Lake. In case you are wondering (as we were) in a nutshell, a rock glacier is a glacier covered with rock or is a mass of rock with ice between the rocks. In either case, both move slowly downhill due to gravity and neither are likely to look like a glacier. This particular glacier is stable and most if not all of its ice core has melted leaving the rocks behind.Read more