Tall Pines Hiker: Two Medicine and Cut Bank with Brian

On the afternoon of July 19, 2007 Brian and I traveled to the Two Medicine area of Glacier Park.

As usual we got a late start to the morning, and after running a few errands, we headed over the continental divide via Highway 2 to the Two Medicine area.

In the East Glacier townsite we stopped and I checked the locations and took photos of a few hotels for Thersea who is planning to visit the Park in September. Brian and I also stopped and checked out the East Glacier Lodge.

It wasn't the ideal time of day to visit as the valley is viewed looking to the west. That means in the afternoon, looking towards the sun. It also was extremely windy with huge gusts of wind coming off of Two Medicine Lake.

Brian and I stood on the lake for a while before leaving. We didn't hike on any of the trails. Brian was still recovering from our previous days hikes.

We also visited Running Eagle Falls. The distance from the parking lot was only .3 of a mile on level ground.

The Falls is pretty neat as it appears to come out of the rock wall. Apparently during the Spring when the water level is high it also flows over the top of the rock.

We hung around the Falls for a while taking photos and enjoying the scenery. Eventually three Native American adults and two kids came. The male adults and one kid climbed the rocks past me up higher and closer to the Falls.

The heavy set male was high overlooking the pool below the Falls and the skinny male was below me. The skinny male yelled up at the heavy set male. We couldn't hear him over the roar of the Falls so the skinny guy then motioned for the heavy set male to jump into the water. The skinny guy appeared to have had a few drinks in his belly.

The heavy male was hesitant and kept looking and looking at the rocks and the pool below so the skinny guy climbed up and with a quick run launched himself out past the rocks and into the water. I was surprised as I didn't think this was the safest thing to do. Apparently the pool drops off quickly and is deep at that point. Soon the skinny guy popped up and made his way to shore.

Once he made it to the rocks the skinny guy again yelled and motioned for the heavy set guy to jump and with a few steps he did. And was successful in getting out past the rocks.

The males jumped in a few more times and the young boy also jumped in, though from a lower rock closer to the water. The female adult and the other child waded in the stream and near the shallow end of the pool.

After seeing this Falls, and being pleasantly surprised by its uniqueness, we decided to also visit Appistoki Falls on the south side of the Valley near Two Medicine Lake.

The distance to this Falls was .6 of a mile, but definitely a harder walk as the distance was mainly a climb upwards. This Falls was a disappointment, especially after seeing Running Eagle Falls. Appistoki Falls was just like a number of other tall falls in the Park, and one couldn't get close to it and had to view it at a distance.

The trail continued up on up to Scenic Point. This was another 2.5 miles. This was more hiking than Brian was up for this day so we didn't go far. I was able to convince Brian to hike up the trail another half mile to a mile so we'd get a better view of the Two Medicine Valley, and an idea of where the trail went to reach Scenic View.

While we were still on the side trail to the Appistoki Falls overlook, Brian and I heard a woman on the Scenic View trail above us. As she hiked down the trail she called out "Hey, bear! Hey, bear!" over and over. She was an older woman hiking alone as her husband and son were behind her farther up the trail. She was so afraid of meeting a bear she was constantly calling out.

"Hey, bear. Hey, bear." became Brian's and my catch phrase for the rest of his vacation. Whenever we were hiking and there was a lull in the conversation, or we were thinking about bears, or met someone else who was worried about bears, Brian and I would call out, "Hey, bear. Hey, bear." and laugh.

Instead of returning home via highway 2, we decided to drive up to St Mary and return via the Going-to-the-Sun road. I also wanted to check out the Cut Bank Valley as I had never been there. We had to exit highway 89 and drive back into the Park.

At the intersection with highway 89 is a sign indicting the times a daily shuttle bus passes by to pick up travelers between East Glacier and the Canadian border. This is a handy feature for hikers and backpackers on the east side of the Park. Each leg of the journey in 2007 was only $8, which was reasonable.

On the drive back to the Park and the Cut Bank trailhead we encountered a number of cattle roaming free range on the Blackfoot Reservation. One could also see the Park boundary as a clear straight line ran through the forest.

The campground at the Cut Bank trail head was primitive but the scenery was gorgeous. Even with the west sun the view was beautiful. I hiked up a bit from the trail head to a broad view and vowed I would return to hike this valley.

In 2006 was the Red Eagle fire, which burnt many acres in the Park and on the Blackfoot Reservation. The drive to St Mary was through miles and miles of burnt timber on each side of the highway. The sun was setting in the west and made for a beautiful sunset. The last photo of the following four was taken from near St Mary and shows the continental divide and Logan Pass in the background, our destination.