Gorgeous but you pay for it with crowds. The last push to the glacier was some route finding and loose scree/rock which im not a fan of coming down. If you're afraid of heights like I am, hiking poles help get down this.

Shout out tho to ALL the trail staff and volunteers who built all the rock stairs, walkways, retaining wall and viewing seats at the pass! Oh heck ya I noticed! That's a lot of work and thank you!

TH: Parking lot was completely full and cars were parked along the road by 8AM. Bathrooms were stocked and fine in the morning but will need to bring your own tp for later in the day.

Trailhead to Glacier camp: it’s a very busy trail so it was easy to navigate and follow even when the trail webbed at the rocky section to the camp. The trail gets pretty steep at the Sahale Arm turn off and continues to stay steep. The glacier was stunning and the views from it spectacular!

Flora: no wildflowers but plenty of ripe berries!

Fauna: lots of active pikas, marmots, hawks, sparrows, ptarmigans, and ground squirrels

A wonderful challenging hike to fill the day with great views.

Arrived 6:30 am, parking lot was 80% full but we were able to get a spot. By the time we actually started hiking around 6:50 am, all official spots were full. Departing at 2 pm, parking lot was nearly impossible to get out of due to poorly parked cars. Pro tip: if you arrive early, don’t take one of the front spots (like I did), drive the circle and take one of the later spots so it’s easier to get out when you’re done.

The hike itself was wonderful as always, although no goats this time. We did see a deer pretty high up on the trail (past Cascade Pass) which was interesting.

Total mileage recorded (on Garmin watch): 12.74 mi. We touched the glacier!
Elevation gain recorded: 4,144 ft

Parking: Arrived at 8:40 am on a Thursday and there were just a few spots left in the lot. The lot was still ~ 1/2 full in the evening, mostly with folks planning to start early the next day.

TH: Vault toilets still had plenty of TP in the morning, but 1 out of the 2 dispensers was empty at the end of the day.

Crowds: Trail felt busy, but not like a conga line. Lots of 2-4 person groups hiking.

Time: Hiked with my 66 year old dad (he's got the endurance of a much younger person, IMO), so we took a couple breaks and the last 1/2 mi or so was pretty slow going because it's steep with rocky bits. Started around 9 am, summitted at 1:20 pm, spent ~ 90 min at the top eating lunch/climbing around to see the glacier, and finished the hike at 7:15 pm.

We did see a handful of people starting up the trail at 4-5 pm when we were on our way out. It's worth making extra sure you have 10 essentials for that kind of trip (especially water and headlamps). The Arm portion of the hike took longer than we expected.

Wildlife: No bears or goats, although we did see some goat scat on the rocks and snow near the glacier. Roughly a dozen grouse (including a male trying to woo a female), 6-8 marmots, lots of pikas and other small critters.

Other: Saw a helicopter with what looked like a ready-to-load litter landing on the arm when we were about 1/2-1 mi down. Assuming it was a SAR operation, although we hadn't seen anyone in distress on our hike. 

Trail was in great condition!