Name: St. Mary's Glacier Trail
Rating: 4.3

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Dogs Leashed

Features Lake · Swimming · Views

Family Friendly Older kids will love the novelty of dipping their feet in the icy waters of the lake, and of being able to play in the snow, even during the summer.

Description

The views at the top of this strenuous trail are well worth the high altitude hike. The trail goes from wide enough for a jeep to narrower with more numerous individual trails branching off through the woods. They all end up coming back together on the east side of Saint Mary's Lake. From there, take the bridge to cross the stream near the dam and continue up to the glacier.

It is about a mile hike from the lake to the glacier. From there, the trail continues approximately another mile up to a junction with Kingson Peak. Spectacular views of the area can be enjoyed along the whole journey, but the junction with the Kingston Peak Trail will provide the best photo ops.

Contacts

Land Manager: USFS - Arapaho National Forests - Clear Creek Ranger District

Shared By:

Andrew Greene

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.3 from 60 votes

#1

in St. Mary's

#32

Overall

4.3 from 60 votes

5 Star		47%
4 Star		40%
3 Star		10%
2 Star		3%
1 Star		0%

Trail Rankings

#1

in St. Mary's

#7

in Colorado

#32

Overall

34 Views Last Month

12,016 Since Aug 15, 2016

		3%
		2%
		72%
		5%
		19%
		0%

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Photos

Oct 10, 2019 near Central…, CO

St Mary's Glacier. with permission from dreamer 200

Aug 15, 2016 near Central…, CO

Mar 13, 2019 near Central…, CO

April can still bring heavy snow to St. Mary's Lake.

Apr 4, 2017 near Central…, CO

Jul 31, 2019 near Central…, CO

Rocky Trail leading up to St. Mary's Glacier Lake

Oct 10, 2019 near Central…, CO

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Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Minor Issues 20 days ago

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Check-Ins

Feb 26, 2024

Kaitlyn Erich

May 6, 2023

Matt Culpepper

ASC-Snow Travel Day(1.6/700) 1.6mi

Apr 1, 2023

Dustin and Jenni Williams

Dec 31, 2022

Matt Culpepper

Snowshoe to glacier and trax to Kingston Peak and back. Gale force winds with blowing snow at regular intervals. (4.6/1800) 4.6mi

Dec 18, 2022

Valeria Castillo

Oct 8, 2022

Private User

Jul 12, 2022

Brian Gray

3.8mi

Jun 4, 2022

Private User

May 28, 2022

Private User

Mar 1, 2022

Ryan Bowman

Pretty consistent snow coverage on the whole trail. Turned around at the steep section around the lake. 1.6 miles roundtrip.

Sep 3, 2021

Ivan Vo

Aug 25, 2021

Maria Verven

Beautiful trail, make sure you go past the lake to the glacier and the waterfall!

Jun 20, 2021

Ben Krantz

2mi — 0h 52m

May 8, 2021

Trevor Andre

May 1, 2021

Private User

Oct 17, 2020

Sierra Morell-Tomassoni

Oct 14, 2020

Ashton Salter

Oct 9, 2020

Chris R

Sep 20, 2020

Private User

Sep 19, 2020

I M

trail above the lake hard to follow. views are okay

Sep 5, 2020

Alicia Wyatt

Sep 5, 2020

Melissa Wilkerson

Jul 25, 2020

Michelle A

A wee bit icy 3mi — 2h 30m

Jul 25, 2020

Marie Magro

Jul 18, 2020

Kathryn Clark

Jul 17, 2020

Ann Zweig

Jul 16, 2020

Michael Schieferecke

Jul 8, 2020

Miranda Emmons

Jun 27, 2020

Ross Therrien

Jun 14, 2020

Britt Babitt

Jun 13, 2020

Private User

May 30, 2020

Brian Baker

May 18, 2020

Matthew McCarthy

May 17, 2020

Josh B

May 1, 2020

Ashlee Moreno

Icy and snow-y start 1.9mi — 4h 00m

Mar 28, 2020

Sandy Schweitzer

Beautiful, crazy windy today

Mar 4, 2020

KARA LEACH

Gorgeous sunny day with maybe 20mph gusts at the glacier. Trail is hard packed to Glacier, then I was happy to have the snowshoes.

Jan 23, 2020

Chris R

Dec 31, 2019

Christine Cid

Nov 12, 2019

Victoria Harding

Oct 11, 2019

Jake S

Glacier and Back under the snowfall 2mi — 1h 30m

Oct 9, 2019

Jake S

Only hiked up to the Glacier and Back 2mi — 1h 30m

Sep 22, 2019

Chris Thornberg

7h 35m

Sep 2, 2019

Dan Moody

Aug 24, 2019

Josh B

Aug 5, 2019

Mike Sanders

Aug 2, 2019

B L

ended at rock in middle of plateau above glacier 1.9mi — 1h 00m

Aug 2, 2019

Michele Stamm

1.9mi — 5h 23m

Jul 20, 2019

Wes Mitchell

Jul 19, 2019

Sara M

Jul 9, 2019

Craig Washburn

Beautiful hike

Jul 7, 2019

Tracey Ziniel

Jul 7, 2019

Justin Ziniel

1.5mi — 1h 30m

Jul 4, 2019

Private User

Jun 30, 2019

Carla Gomez Arbaje

Easy hike with huge view payoff.

Jun 23, 2019

Stephen Pack

Jun 17, 2019

Matt Culpepper

Up to top of the rock at the pass. World class views. 2mi

Jun 17, 2019

Beth Culpepper

Beautiful day, just missed the rain. 3mi

Jun 12, 2019

Kat Chorman

hiked with Sandra Maldonado. nice little hike but very rocky. would love to go again and hike further. 2mi

Jun 7, 2019

Taylor Lederman

May 27, 2019

Kale Rogers

May 26, 2019

Jeff O

1.9mi — 2h 00m

May 16, 2019

Sarah Piper

Rocky climb up to glacier and lake

May 5, 2019

Jeff Brillhart

Apr 2, 2019

John Ligon

Flurries — 10h 00m

Feb 21, 2019

Andrew Muzik

Packed snow, was amazing

Feb 3, 2019

Ryan William

Jan 30, 2019

Private User

Jan 19, 2019

Madison Hart

Snowshoed up to St. Mary's Glacier Lake. 0.6mi — 2h 00m

Dec 30, 2018

Tommy F

Dec 29, 2018

Private User

Dec 12, 2018

John Flynn

1.4mi

Oct 27, 2018

Joe Martinez

Windy windy 40 degrees Many people could not go past the lake We hike up to near top of glacier Turned back because of wind and steep terrain

Oct 27, 2018

Kayla Martinez

Sep 23, 2018

Brian Minarcik

Sep 15, 2018

Annette Deering

Short, steep and gorgeous!! Aspens are all changing to yellow...gorgeous day but very busy!

Sep 15, 2018

Lily Douglas

nice hike to a pretty lake and "glacier"/snowfield above. quite busy. trail above the glacier is nice, not well marked until you're up a bit.

Sep 9, 2018

Cody Coombe

3mi

Sep 1, 2018

Becks Zirlin

1.9mi

Aug 22, 2018

Anne-Isabelle Jungels

Aug 13, 2018

samanyy

Aug 1, 2018

Jesse Devaney

Jul 24, 2018

Carolyn Jungels

Jul 13, 2018

April Thompson

1.9mi

Jul 8, 2018

Lee Sosebee

Jun 16, 2018

Patrick Csongei

Hiked up some of the glacier but didn't go all the way to the top. Views were great but weather coming in forced us to come down 2.3mi — 1h 02m

Jun 9, 2018

Eliane Zalewski

7mi — 4h 00m

Jun 1, 2018

Nick Murray

May 5, 2018

Floyd Hartley

4mi

Apr 21, 2018

Andy Mcguffin

Apr 11, 2018

Allison Ellington

Lots of snow! 1.9mi

Apr 8, 2018

Bryse Paffile

Mar 4, 2018

Erin Steven

Feb 25, 2018

Tyler Kanaval

only made it 1/2 mile past glacier to 11,000 ft. will return in spring

Jan 27, 2018

Andrea C

Nov 26, 2017

Elaine Meyer

Hard 2.9mi

Nov 19, 2017

Bert van Leeuwen

Very windy at the lake and down the glacier. 2.4mi

Nov 19, 2017

Renee Romano

Nov 5, 2017

Debby R

Easy hike; pretty view but not worth drive up for short trail

Oct 25, 2017

Micaela Burrow

Oct 13, 2017

Judah Hernandez

Sep 29, 2017

Emily Weinreb

Beautiful! 1.5mi

Sep 29, 2017

Nate Miller

Sep 18, 2017

Quinn McGill

Sep 8, 2017

Mantis Toboggan

Great Hike. Amazing views up top. Don't be a dork, go up to the upper part of the glacier around the lake. Remember it will be colder up there!! 2.4mi

Sep 8, 2017

Stephanie Adams

4mi

Aug 30, 2017

Mary Margaret

Saw a marmot 3.8mi

Aug 30, 2017

Julia Anderson

Awesome! 1.9mi

Aug 30, 2017

Dan Vogel

Aug 27, 2017

Chris Petersen

Aug 12, 2017

Edgar Villeda

Aug 7, 2017

Kylie Fischer

Aug 6, 2017

Andy F

Aug 5, 2017

Colin Krysl

Aug 5, 2017

Paul Mendy

Jul 16, 2017

Jim Bo

Beautiful day 2.5mi

Jul 15, 2017

Justin Ziniel

1.5mi

Jul 8, 2017

Tracy Meola

Gorgeous day... gorgeous hike to the lake.

Jul 4, 2017

Morgan Canjar

Happy 4th!!! 1.9mi

Jun 26, 2017

Sarah Price

Jun 24, 2017

Kris Adams

Jun 20, 2017

Aaron Rodgers

Jun 17, 2017

Andy Ney

Jun 10, 2017

Matt Adamski

2.5mi

Jun 9, 2017

Alyssa Genther

1.9mi

Jun 5, 2017

Chloé Marie

Quick and rigorous hike up a steep boulderous incline.

Jun 4, 2017

Todd Taylor

Jun 3, 2017

Nelson Summers

May 17, 2017

Maggie Hoomanawanui

May 7, 2017

Nicky Rucker

Apr 26, 2017

Miguel Prieto

Apr 15, 2017

Shannon Miller

Apr 2, 2017

Garth Lamson

I love this hike. The lake is beautiful but not the best part. Dump the tourist and keep going. Wow, what an amazing place. Bring $5 for parking. 7mi

Mar 25, 2017

Ryan Rees

There was still packed snow going up the glacier, once at the top of the glacier there were only spots here and there that were fully snow covered. 4mi — 2h 00m

Nov 5, 2016

Hannah Fine

2mi

Sep 29, 2016

Sarah Burns

Such a beautiful place. 2.2mi — 2h 00m

Sep 29, 2016

Morgan-Lea Fogg

Sep 25, 2016

Michael Heckendorn

Sep 18, 2016

Migs Migs

Sep 18, 2016

Amber Dargis

Sep 4, 2016

Private User

Jul 30, 2016

Ben Krantz

Feb 4, 2016

Jon D

Jul 19, 2015

Gabby Carrier

Jun 15, 2015

mniessen

May 8, 2015

Hannah Sellnow

Very short but fun trail! Pretty glacier at the end!

Jul 6, 2014

Sean McCarthy

Jul 30, 2011

Daniel Winn

W/ M&D

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St. Mary's Glacier Trail

“A rocky climb up to the glacier and lake. ”

1.9

3.1

Point to Point

11,627' 3,544 m

10,414' 3,174 m

1,214' 370 m

4' 1 m

12%

27%

Toolbox

Know This Trail?

Dogs Leashed

Features Lake · Swimming · Views

Family Friendly Older kids will love the novelty of dipping their feet in the icy waters of the lake, and of being able to play in the snow, even during the summer.

Description

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#1

#32

#1

#7

#32

Photos

0 Comments

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Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Check-Ins

Nearby Recommended Routes

James Peak to Rollins Pass Loop

Moffat Tunnel (East Portal) to Winter Park

CDT - Berthoud Pass to Stanley Mountain

Jim Creek Trail

Hessie to Lost Lake

Hells Hole Trail #53

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