Two Medicine to East Glacier: Which way to go?

Fireworks for the 4th of July in East Glacier at Brownie’s Hostel

Jim Wolf’s books would be helpful leaving Two Medicine. We roadwalked from the campground to Scenic Point trailhead by a two inch wide shoulder (NPS: it’s pretty clear you designed your parks for cars not people). Many people were on the trail, and we passed many.

Scenic point was indeed scenic and it was nice to see the canyon and pass we went over yesterday. The flowers were every color and like mini Dr. Seuss vegetation. Past scenic point, we didn’t see a soul and the park went on for quite a while, though we felt it had been neglected by most hikers. I wasn’t sure where the park boundary started and Blackfeet land began and it wasn’t until we were well, well down the Eastern part of the mountain that we left the park. The trail to East Glacier was generally good with us only getting lost once. It was quite muddy and with dense horseprints. Where we got lost was at a Y-fork with a jeep road and a trail with a log over it (which usually depicts “this is not the trail.”) We were spit out near Brownies hostel, where we had stayed at a week before and I had left my laptop. Home sweet home, especially since the hostel is right above a bakery!

When I started this trip, I knew I’d be flying back to California for 3 days for a memorial service. I planned my flight out of Missoula, which is just passed Lincoln, MT on the trail, specifically because it seemed like I could make it that far on the CDT by the 9th. In fact, we were supposed to be in Lincoln today, July 3rd. But being unable to get a permit to start the CDT on June 25th and the permit system making doing big miles difficult had made the intended mileage impossible.