A few weekends ago we headed up the mountains for what promised to be "an easy hike." We went to St.Mary's Glacier, a compacted ice field from winter snow. It's not a long hike, and the lake is stunning. We all threw on light jackets and pants over our regular clothes (it's chilly up there, even in the summer months!) and headed up the trailhead. The trails were crowded, steep, and very rocky. Even though its a short hike (about a mile), its difficult to get good footing at times if you're not an experienced hiker or have small folk along. With that being said, I definitely recommend this as a family hike- our 4yo did the whole thing going up by herself but was slower than some of the people on trails around us, and noticed things they didn't because of it (lovely spots off trail, nuts, fallen tree trunks, bunnies, feathers, pretty mossy trees).
If you're doing this hike with children, I suggest you bring a backpack carrier such as the
Ergo Carrier or
Kelty Kids, good shoes on their feet, plenty of snacks, sweaters, and drinking water.
Getting There: Take I-70 West from Denver, past the town and three exits of Idaho Springs. Take the next exit marked "Fall River Road". Just past the bottom of the ramp, take a right (north) on Fall River Road. Follow this road up past the town of Alice on a very winding back road straight up to one of two parking areas for the clearly marked trailhead to St. Mary's Glacier.
The glacier itself gets a good bit of traffic (snowboarders, climbers, dogs, etc) but we stuck to climbing the rocks in the trail and playing in the lake. The hike was plenty dog friendly and fun for all of us but rather busy.
