Glacier National Park: St. Mary Lake to Two Medicine Lake
Pack maximum Glacier highlights—densely stacked peaks, jewel-like turquoise pools, and blinding-white waterfalls—into three days with this 35.6-mile point-to-point from St. Mary to Two Medicine.
Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Sign up for Outside+ today.
Park at Two Medicine ranger station and grab the East Side Shuttle ($20/person, June 3 to September 25) to Saint Mary. Ask the driver to stop at the Red Eagle trailhead. Ascend gradually and cross bridged streams as you enter the wide valley between Red Eagle Creek and Curly Bear Mountain. Camp in a clearing among the pines at the inlet of Red Eagle Lake (mile nine).
Next day, head south, crossing a suspension bridge (removed seasonally by late September) over the roaring falls at Red Eagle Gorge. In fall, the high whine of bugling elk fills the meadow between Hudson Creek and Split Top Mountain. Lunch facing Medicine Owl Peak, Amphitheater Mountain, and Mt. James, each taller than 8,000 feet. By late September, Amphitheater’s horizontal striations fill with lines of snow so thin they look pen drawn.
Begin the waterfall-laced climb to Triple Divide Pass, and emerge above treeline at mile 16.1. Look west to Triple Divide Peak’s cleft ridge. This is one of just two peaks in North America (the other is Snow Dome, in Canada’s Jasper National Park) that route water to three different watersheds—the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic (via Hudson Bay).
Descend east for one of the weekend’s finest views: a thin waterfall plunging 1,600 feet to the turquoise surface of Medicine Grizzly Lake. Spend night two along the bank of Morning Star Lake. Next day, pass a string of sapphire lakes to 7,731-foot Pitamakan Pass, then traverse a series of ledges to Dawson Pass. Descend to No Name Lake (another good camp), then continue 5.7 miles to end at Two Medicine.
-Mapped by Casey Lyons
Trail Facts
- Distance: 57.3
Waypoints
MTM001
Location: 48.745352, -113.435233
Head south from St. Mary.
MTM002
Location: 48.708597, -113.444005
Meadow
MTM003
Location: 48.69443, -113.455001
Footbridge
MTM004
Location: 48.689232, -113.469629
Suspension bridge
MTM005
Location: 48.681937, -113.479671
Turn left at T-junction.
MTM006
Location: 48.656075, -113.501601
Red Eagle Lake
MTM007
Location: 48.64584, -113.51012
Campsite
MTM008
Location: 48.639049, -113.52175
Bridge crossing
MTM009
Location: 48.635816, -113.53029
Ford Eagle Creek.
MTM010
Location: 48.606846, -113.526847
Waterfall
MTM011
Location: 48.586019, -113.519497
Waterfall
MTM012
Location: 48.574179, -113.513532
Triple Divide Pass
MTM013
Location: 48.574534, -113.491602
Waterfall
MTM014
Location: 48.573427, -113.459544
Turn left at T-junction.
MTM015
Location: 48.575897, -113.447914
Turn right at T-junction.
MTM016
Location: 48.54116, -113.456798
Morning Star Lake
MTM017
Location: 48.53542, -113.453236
Waterfall
MTM018
Location: 48.517201, -113.462291
Turn right (west) at Pitamakan Pass.
MTM019
Location: 48.516878, -113.465757
Bear left at trail fork.
MTM020
Location: 48.518345, -113.472417
Cut Bank Pass is located to the north. Follow the trail to the left as it rounds Mt. Morgan before continuing south.
MTM021
Location: 48.48723, -113.471947
Turn left at Dawson Pass and begin descent of Bighorn Basin to No Name Lake.
MTM022
Location: 48.481115, -113.445854
Turn left at 3-way. Optional: Continue straight to reach campsite at No Name Lake.
MTM023
Location: 48.479778, -113.448815
Campsite at No Name Lake
MTM024
Location: 48.47836, -113.428937
Vista
MTM025
Location: 48.477843, -113.419461
Turn left at junction.
MTM026
Location: 48.484571, -113.369079
The route ends at this lot near Two Medicine Lake.
