Kayla and I hiked the Root Glacier trail to start one of our days in Kennecott. The trail is maintained by the National Parks Service, who have excellent resources related to it here and here. Clocking in at about 6.5 km (4 miles) round-trip, it’s a pretty easy hike. The hike starts in the old town site, which I describe here. One of the best parts of leaving right after breakfast was that we were pretty alone on the trail. Given its accessibility, this one can get busy, but we seemed to get it to ourselves.
The views up and down the valley opened up to us pretty quickly.
Continuing along the trail, you can start to see bits of ice peek out from beneath the debris a little closer. Here you can see it where a creek meets the glacier.
There are some pretty sweet campsites along the trail, complete with outhouses and close to a gorgeous stream for collecting water. We would love to stay there as a base camp, for example, for exploring the glacier or hiking up to the mines.
Slowly, you start descending to the glacier as you pass the campsites. You can see in the pictures that it’s getting to eye level.
The end of the trail spit us out at the toe of the Root Glacier with just a little stream to hop over.
Crampons are recommended for walking on the glacier, but even with the, you should watch your step. We walked a little bit up it, but made sure to stop and enjoy the views along the way.
Kayla and I made out way up the glacier a hundred metres or so, but not much further. We decided that the risk of crevasses or cracks was not worth the reward. We were treated to views of the ice falls, however!
The Parks team has adjusted some of the trail due to some minor landslide risks. You can see on the side of the valley where it has been debuttressed, causing instabilities.
The walk out is just as beautiful as the walk in, and I highly recommend this trail!
