Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail

  • Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail
       5 miles elevation gain 350 feet
       North Shore Trailhead or
       2.2 miles elevation gain 350 feet    From Boat Dock
       nice view hike
       Elevation at lake 5,420 feet
       Easy hike

NPS Trail Crew Report as of 8-18-11
South Shore Trail to Upper Two Med. Lake/ 1.5 mi
8/6/11: Trail clear.
Initial clearing scheduled for: 7/8/11 per 650
7/15/2011 Spur to cg holding water, CG with 6' of snow

This is an easy hike when there is no snow cover, otherwise you will need winter hiking skills and equipment! Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail is reported clear as of 8-6-11.

The trail starts off from the head (see Day Hikes Map) on the north shore of Two Medicine Lake a short walk behind the Two Medicine Chalet. The other option is to take Sinopah from the boat dock at the end of the parking lot. If you get an early start then you can combine the Twin Falls Trail with the Upper Two Medicine Trail. The north shore trail and the boat dock trail come together in the meadow with a view of Pompelly Pillar. Twin Falls Trailhead is the next trail junction and it goes off to the right.


The Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail is generally a late opening trail as Upper Two Medicine Lake is a magnet for heavy snowfalls. As of 7-1-11 reports of up to 10 feet of snow on the ground at Upper Two Medicine Lake. The trail crew reports for 7-15-11 show six feet of snow at the campground. This is a mid to late season trail depending on snow fall. Upper Two Medicine Lake has a small back country campground one of the easiest to hike to in Glacier National Park. Lone Walker Mountain rises from the western shore. In Mary Roberts Rhinehart book "Through Glacier Park", there is a photo of Upper Two Medicine Lake and one hundred years ago the lakeshore was strewn with broken limbs. Some of the photos in her book were taken by A. J. Baker for those who are familiar with Whitefish ~ Baker Street is named after A. J and his brothers.

upper two medicine lake glacier national park © Shawn Cogins

Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail across the branch strewn shoreline views of Lone Walker Mountain, 8,502 feet. On the north side of the lake is Mount Helen, 8,520 feet. The southern shore rises upto Rising Bull Ridge, at 8,160 feet.



Unlike Mary Robert Rinehart who first visited Glacier National Park nearly One Hundred years ago I am not a wordsmith.

"AS the days went on there was a subtle change in the party. Women, who had to be helped into their saddles at the beginning of the trip, swung into them easily. Waistbands were looser, eyes were clearer; we were tanned; we were calm with the large calmness of the great outdoors. And with each succeeding day the feeling of achievement grew. We were doing things and doing them without effort. To some of us the mountains had made their ancient appeal. Never again should we be clear of their call. To those of us who felt all this inevitably in the future would come times when cities and even civilization itself would cramp. I have traveled a great deal. The Alps have never held this lure for me. Perhaps it is because these great mountains are my own, in my own country. Cities call–I have heard them. But there is no voice in all the world so insistent to me as the wordless call of the Rockies. I shall go back. Those who go once always hope to go back. The lure of the great free spaces is in their blood.

by Mary Robert Rinehart Through Glacier Park