Flinsch Peak from Aster park 2005
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Bears are a fact of life in Montana, especially so in Glacier Park. The book 'Bear Aware' covers bear safety while Hiking and Camping in Bear Country by Bill Schneider.




Logan Pass Opened July 13, 2011

Two Medicine is a hiking hub with a mixture of easy hikes and very strenuous hikes. Lots of waterfalls.

Winter storm warning for Glacier National Park 8-31-11
Up to 3" of snow above 6,000 feet!


Two Medicine Camp Store closes September 5, 2011 (end of day) The Glacier Trading Company is open year round in East Glacier. Bear spray is available for purchase at most stores in northwest Montana.

Two Medicine Trails Trail Map

  • Running Eagle Falls Trail
    Wheelchair accessible
    No Shuttle Service
    Easy hike

  • Scenic Point, Mount Henry Trail
    3.1 miles elevation gain 2,350 feet
    One of the best view hikes
    in Glacier National Park
    In addition to being one of the
    best hikes in Glacier ~ The lower portion of the Mount Henry Trail is one of those trails that clears of snow early
    No Shuttle Service
    Moderately Strenuous hike

  • Appistoki Falls Trail
    0.6 miles elevation gain 260 feet
    not much during dry season,
    nice view of gorge at all times
    No Shuttle Service
    Easy hike

  • South Shore Trailhead
    Google™ Map Two Medicine Lake
    Aster Park, Cobalt Lake & Rockwell Falls
    No Shuttle Service
    all start from the same trailhead, which is located
    just past the boat house on the South Shore
    of Two Medicine Lake.

  • Aster Park Trail South Shore Trailhead
    Google™ Map Two Medicine Lake
    No Shuttle Service
    1.9 miles elevation gain 670 feet
    Nice views of Two Medicine Lake
    Easy hike

  • Cobalt Lake Trail South Shore Trailhead
    6/22/2011: NPS Trail Crew Report
  • Late July 2011 till trail is clear of snow
    No Shuttle Service
    5.7 miles elevation gain 1,400 feet
    GNP park info is misleading
    from Rockwell Falls it's 2.3 miles
    with a gain of 1,025 lots of 'steps'
    Strenuous hike

  • Rockwell Falls Trail South Shore Trailhead
  • 6/22/2011: NPS Trail Crew Report
    Trail to Rockwell Falls melting out quickly.
    No Shuttle Service
    3.4 miles elevation gain 375 feet
    This trail is essentially flat.
    One of my disk drives
    and all my pics of Rockwell Falls and Cobalt Lake
    were lost. Hope to make it back soon.
    The photo of a moose rising from a pond
    was taken on this trail.
    Easy hike

  • North Shore Trailhead
    Dawson Pass, No Name Lake, Oldman Lake,
    Pitamaken Pass,
    Twin Falls & Upper Two Medicine Lake all start
    from North Shore Trailhead

  • Glacier Boat
    Dawson Pass Trail, No Name Lake,
    Twin Falls and Upper Two Medicine Lake
    from can also be reached
    by the Sinopah ~ Glacier Boat.
    The Sinopah departs from near the
    South Trailhead on Two Medicine Lake.
    No Shuttle Service
    The Sinopah takes 3.0 miles
    off the above named trails.









  • Dawson Pass Trail, No Name Lake
    6.7 miles elevation gain 2,450 feet
    No Name Lake 5.0 miles gains 800 feet
    I've combined trail distances and gains to make it more clear.
    If you were to look at Dawson Pass 6.7 miles and 2,450 feet
    Without studying the info for No Name Lake, you might
    think Dawson Pass was a gentle climb,
    but when you subtract out the
    5.0 miles to No Name Lake then Dawson Pass becomes
    1,650 feet in 1.6 miles.
    Note: High winds can make Dawson Pass
    a very dangerous trail.
    No Shuttle Service
    Brutal hike

  • No Name Lake
    5.0 miles elevation gain 800 feet
    Moderate hike if you hike from The North Shore Trailhead
    No Shuttle Service
    Easy hike If you take the Sinopah.

  • Twin Falls Trail
    3.8 miles elevation gain 75 feet
    Moderate hike
    if you hike from The North Shore Trailhead
    0.9 miles elavation gain 75 feet
    No Shuttle Service
    Easy hike If you take the Sinopah.
    Note:The last time I hiked to Twin Falls,
    in the fall of 2004, both falls were
    choked with downed trees.

  • Upper Two Medicine Lake
    (a) 5.0 miles elevation gain 350 feet
    North Shore Trailhead
    (b) 2.2 mies elevation gain 350 feet
    by boat on the Sinopah
    Easy hike once the trail clears of snow

Two Medicine

Info on the 2010 East Side Shuttle to Many Glacier, Two Medicine and East Glacier Please note as of June 16, 2011 no CURRENT info available. As of June 15, 2011 the signs for the shuttle stop in Many Glacier were not up! GPI website link to the hikers shuttle is broken.

Each leg is $10.00 US (cash only) Don't waste your time asking the rangers about this shuttle as they usually are completely ignorant of it's existence.


Looking Glass Highway aka RT 49 is open as of June 16, 2011. This time I also saw a red fox crossing the road with a freshly caught rabbit in the fox's mouth. The usual assortment of slumps in the road surface and unpaved sections of the roadway are present. Spectacular views of Glacier Park to the north along with the pastoral splendor of the plains meeting the sharp rise of the Rocky Mountain Front balance out the state of the roadway. Drivers unfamiliar with this road need to exercise extreme caution, along with irregular pavement, spectacular views this is a MAJOR biking route. Wildflowers are starting to make their appearance along Looking Glass Highway. RT 89 to St. Mary, which RT 49 dead ends into is proudly showing off it's early array of wildflowers. Please be on the lookout for horses, cows and other animals on the road.

Two Medicine is a hiking hub with a mixture of easy hikes and very strenuous hikes. Lots of waterfalls. The moose rising shown on the left side of this page was taken on the Rockwell Falls Trail. Wind on the Dawson Peak Trail can be extreme.

Arriving at the shore of Two Medicine Lake is a powerful, visceral experience.
It brings to mind this quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Custom House:
"strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."

Luckily Two Medicine is off the beaten path, not to say that the parking area at the foot of lake doesn't fill up during the peak of the summer season. The hiking season for the Two Medicine area is extremely short. (it snowed on June 10 & 20, 2008) Two Medicine Road opened late during 2008, not as late as Going To The Sun Road which didn't open until July 3rd, 2008.

Basic hiking season is from late June to mid September. Higher elevation hiking season is from mid July to mid September depending upon upper elevation snow conditions. Winter conditions are never far away in the Two Medicine Valley.

Two Medicine is not serviced by the free park service shuttle.
Two Medicine is bear country, it is home to both the black bear and the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), also known as a silvertip bear, grizzly, or the North American brown bear.
You need to be bear aware in Glacier National Park, but drowning is the number one cause of accidental visitor deaths .

Two Medicine along with Many Glacier by not being on The Going To The Sun Road is frequently missed by the casual traveler to Glacier National Park. Both Many Glacier and Two Medicine are great hiking hubs along with visually dramatic valleys. The valley floor is two thousand feet higher in Two Medicine then in West Glacier. For the serious hiker the east side of the park is the hub. When I chat with hikers on the many trails in Glacier Park the majority of the regular repeat visitors stay on the east side of Glacier Park. This year Two Medicine Campground opened June 24, 2011.

Two Medicine Valley is also home to a large variety of wildlife. Moose, elk, Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goats, Black Bears, Grizzly Bears, Wolverines to name a few that live or pass through the valley. In 2011 I saw my first newborn big horn lamb and it was in the Two Medicine area.



Glacier Park Lodge 1921 USGS

USGS photo above of Glacier Park Lodge taken in 1921 next to the East Glacier Great Northern Train Depot. At this time East Glacier and Two Medicine were the hubs of activity in Glacier National Park.



Lake McDonald Trails

North Fork Trails

Logan Pass Trails

St. Mary Trails

Two Medicine Trails

Many Glacier Trails

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