Harding Icefield.

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From Millie (10 years old): The trail was beautiful. I would only recommend it to my fit friends. If you are fit, this trail is easy.
From Autumn (12 years old): Trail had dirt all over it, had large rodents running around and too many clouds. 1 star- Do not recommend.
Based on weather, we were supposed to have a sunny day with a 40% chance of rain by 3 pm. It was socked in with clouds from the get go and did rain from time to time on the way up with a morning start of 830 am. We were the second people signed in for the day at the check in station.
The trail says 8.2 miles round trip, but we actually ended up doing 10.5 miles.
I expected it to be significantly harder than it was based on other reviews (those really are subjective based on your own experience and fitness level).
There was really no part of the trail that I would consider technical climbing. When we got within a quarter mile of the emergency shelter, we lost the trail a bit. I think part of the problem was all the cloud cover. Maybe on a sunny day, it is very obvious where the trail goes. Sean carefully scouted around and found the trail.
I was glad that Emelia and I continued on because as we approached the icefield, the clouds thinned out and BOOM; we had a view!
Pro Tips:
1. You must ask your ten year old about her gear before getting in the car AND when getting out of the car. She forgot her hiking shoes in the campground and did 10.5 miles in sandals/socks (for heavens sake!) and at mile 1.37, we realized she left her water in the car. Parenting fail for sure! Thankfully, some in our party had water to spare.
2. Just because it is cloudy, doesn't mean you won't get a good view.
3. Layers, layers, layers. We hit just about all weather conditions and getting to the icefield after walking through rain/mist (so wet) and getting the winds off the ice... brrrrrr. Thank goodness we all had brought layers.

Finally, ascent:
Mile 1.0 = 362 feet of elevation gain
Mile 2.0 = 1,124 feet of elevation gain
Mile 3.0 = 1,831 feet of elevation gain (still below the tree line, but near the tree line)
Mile 4.0 = 2,700 feet of elevation gain
Mile 5.5 = 3,484 feet of elevation gain.

Min elevation 478 feet; Max elevation 3,605 feet.

Our photos:










































































































































































The Jordan's

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