Upper Two Medicine Lake hike from boat dock

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tibber
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Upper Two Medicine Lake hike from boat dock

Post by tibber »

I know this is not a big hike or anything but for others that need a leisurely hike day, this might work for you.
After our scenic drives up in Waterton (https://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=46990) ... and thank goodness we did this due to the Kenow Fire, the next day we hiked Upper Two Med. This is my trip report on HAZ that I thot I would share.
After louszy weather yesterday we arrived at our little cabin at St Mary KOA. We did some laundry and ordered a salad and then had dinner using some of our groceries we had bot at the St Mary grocery store a few days prior. We reviewed various hiking options for the following day. I had wanted to do Piegan Pass but Wendy was getting the cold I had and she was gimping so we needed to find something a little less challenging and came up with this hike.

But first, we had to drive to East Glacier cuz tibber needed her Grizzly Rolls and though Rock n Roll Bakery didn't have them, we were able to get them at Glacier Park Trading Co just up the street. However, the bakery did have some Huckleberry Pie so we got a couple pieces of that to take for later. I also picked up the book Seasonal Disorder by the local ranger Pat Hagan for Wendy. It's a great read. As we came out we saw that there were Rainier cherries for sale down the highway so we walked over and got a big bag of those. I cannot tell you big and juicy and tasty those cherries were :arrow: . One more stop at the Spiral Spoon where Wendy purchased a handcrafted wooden spoon... this store was full of them in all sizes and shapes and kinds of wood.


We stopped at the Two Medicine Ranger Station to pick up a map and get a suggestion for the best route. We had just missed the Ranger Pat Hagan guided hike to Upper Two Medicine. I've hiked with him in 2013 (Dawson Pass) and 2014 (Rockwell Falls). However, as luck would have it, we would meet him and the group on the trail as they were coming back from Upper Two Med. He said he recognized me when we met.

Oh ya, about the hike.
It was a lovely day as we started from the boat dock area and actually hiked a section I had done back in 2014. Today's weather was much nicer so things looked a little different. We stopped and admired the beaver pond as we continued along the South Shore Trail and crossed Aster Creek. Wendy decided we should go up to Aster Falls; and though I had seen it in 2014 I said sure as it's not very far off the main trail. I'm glad we made this side trip as we were able to get a good view of the falls. We were able to get down further in the creek to see the whole falls as it was so much later in the year and there wasn't so much water blocking your ability to get a good look at the Falls.

From there we continued on past Paradise Creek which is partially fed by Rockwell Falls and flows into Two Medicine Lake. There are a few trails that split off from this South Shore Trail and there is lots of signage along the way. All of the hike has been in the forest with a few openings here and there showing you views in different directions to the mountains around you. We come thru a bit of a clearing that shows us a nice portrait of Sinopah before going back up into the forest and eventually down toward the lake. As you are above the lake of course you have nice views of the west part of Rising Wolf and the south of Flinsch Peak. And if you stop, you can look all the way down to the other side of the lake where the Two Medicine store is (part of the old Chalet).

Once down to the lake you veer left onto the Two Medicine Trail. Here is where you run into some more people traffic as the Twin Falls is a short but easy hike for people to reach. Altho, it wasn't that busy today. We stopped at Twin Falls where there was a backpacking contingent resting up (not sure where they came from but they were headed to Upper Two Med as we would encounter them not far from there on our way back). The Twin Falls are nice but with all the wood debris, not that scenic. So we continued on up the trail. Some other hikers along the way kept telling us about the moose in the pond so we were looking foward to that as the valley opened up with views of the mountains all around us.

We finally reached the area above the pond and saw the moose. This is also where we met up with Ranger Pat Hagan's group coming back from Two Medicine. We only got to say hi as I suspect he was running late to catch the boat. Wendy said his mouth was pretty purple; ya, even the rangers like their huckleberries :lol: . We spent a bit of time trying to get good pics of the moose; had to do some serious zooming. We would see others with their fancier cameras trying to get that ideal moose photo.

And now on to our final destination. There was a wide area just before you reached the lake. We passed the campground which looked really nice with a bear box and nice seating area. We spent a little time at the lake admiring the views of the surrounding mountains. This was not necessarily the best time of day to be here for photos but it's still so pretty. We had a snack and then headed on back. We took a little detour to what we thot was a bit of a waterfall and that's about all we saw. But the color of the bedrock and mountain ash and the vista to the east was really quite something if you imagine yourself being a glacier.

We enjoyed our hike back to the boat and stopped to take some more pics of the moose that was still eating in the pond. We imbibed in some more berries along the way. We arrived at the lake and waited with the others hoping we would all be able to fit on the boat. There were kids playing in the lake, ducks swimming on the lake and a couple mountain goats far above the lake. We all fit and enjoyed our ride back to the dock; not bad for $6 or so. And you pay when you get back to the main dock. Now for our drive for dinner on Looking Glass Road to St Mary to Babb. The ultimate hiking reward, dinner at the Cattle Baron Club that includes a t-bone steak cooked to perfection and tasting YUMMY! (see the last photo in the set https://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=47024).

to Aster Falls and Paradise Creek
Paradise Creek area to Twin Falls
Twin Falls to Upper Two Medicine lake and THE moose
Upper Two Medicine Lake to Two Medicine Lake
Boat Ride on Two Medicine Lake from upper west shore
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Re: Upper Two Medicine Lake hike from boat dock

Post by Jay w »

A number of nice photos. Thanks and well done.

Jay
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