The East side of Glacier

Hi Everyone,

Glacier National Park spans more than 1,500 square miles, so if one wants to see the whole park they must visit both the western entrances and the eastern entrances which are around three hours of driving apart, or stay on one side then move to the other side like we did. The eastern entrances are all in the Blackfoot and Kiowa Indian reservations, so hotel and restaurant accommodations are scarce.

Yesterday, July 13th, we drove a few miles to the "Two Medicine" entrance to Glacier National Park. Interesting name, "Two Medicine" but there are others in the eastern side of the park, like Two Dog Flats, Running Eagle Falls, and Gunsight Pass to mention a few. According to Indian legend, "Two Medicine" got its name because there were two medicine lodges, one on either side of the river. We drove a little way into the park a found ourselves at the Running Eagle Falls trailhead. It was only a short distance and even though it was threatening to rain we decided to go see it.  Wow, were we surprised to find a very unique waterfall? The force of this river is such that it has drilled a hole right through the sedimentary rock creating a natural bridge through which the water cascades. We were told that during the spring runoff the water also pours over the top of the natural bridge creating two waterfalls.

From there we went to, you guessed it, Two Medicine Lake. Not much to see there, an alpine lake and a campground. There were a couple of trails, but again cute puppies like me are not allowed. Also, it was raining off and on so we didn't try hiking.

Today, July 14th, we all got up early again, so Dad and Mom could drive to the "St. Mary Entrance" in St. Mary, Montana (an hour away) to get into the park early enough to catch the first shuttle bus from the St. Mary entrance at 7:00 AM up to Logan Pass (the highest point in Glacier NP) on the "Going to the Sun Road". I stayed home and rested again because Glacier NP only allows dogs in the parking lots and not on the trails (something to do with attracting bears?). The first site they passed was St. Mary Lake of course.

Their first goal was to hike partway along the High-line Trail which overlooks the "Going to the Sun Road" with the trailhead at the Logan Pass parking lot. They hiked only about a mile before they reached a point in the trial with a sheer drop off of several hundred feet and no barriers. Dad's aversion to heights defeated him at that point, so they turned back. We later learned that this same trail was closed soon after my human parents were on it because a Grizzly Bear charged at several hikers further along the trail from where my parents had been. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the Rangers closed the trail for several weeks to avoid any more incidents with potentially deadly results.

Their next goal was to hike from Logan Pass up to Hidden Lake Overlook (921 ft. vertical rise, 5+ miles up and back) and hopefully get a chance to see the mountain goats that were rumored to be in that area. There was a sign at the trailhead warning NOT to go beyond the Overlook because of dangerous bear activity near the lake (Rangers told my parents "the Salmon are spawning and bears don't like to share").

Well, this time they got their wish! A herd of about twenty mountain goats and their new-born babies were there, right at the overlook and in among the hikers, so close they could be touched, although no one did. Mom shot 175 photographs of the goats and their new kids while they were there. This time Dad made it all the way up the mountain in spite of a couple of narrow ledges with sheer dropoffs they had to hike around.

Tomorrow we are heading for Flathead Lake in central-western Montana, about 60 miles south, where we will be staying for a few days😃.