Early Sunday morning, on June 2, Amber and I were up early to drive to the east side of Glacier National Park. We wanted to hike to Virginia Falls, which is accessed from Going to the Sun Road. Because the full road is not open yet, we took HWY 2 around the southern boundary of the park. One of the neat features you pass on this route, is the lowest point on the Continental Divide, in the northern part of the US. It's named Marias Pass. American Indians long knew of the pass, but white settlers in America only heard rumors. In December of 1889 John Stevens set out on snow-shoes to explore the area and confirm that there was a feasible route for the Great Northern Railroad to cross the Continental Divide. The US HWY 2 wasn't constructed until the 1930s. At that time, a monument was put up at the location, honoring John Stevens.
When we got to East Glacier, we turned onto MT-49. It's a cut off road that gets you to the Two Medicine entrance of Glacier, and joins back up with MT-89 to then access the east side of Going to the Sun Road, at Saint Mary. It's a very handy shortcut, otherwise you have to go all the way over to Browning, MT to get to MT-89.
We got to the Two Medicine Entrance and discovered that route 49 was closed off. I didn't want to add even more driving time, so we decided to change our plans and hike some trails in Two Medicine. We parked the car and then began hiking along the south part of Middle Two Medicine Lake. It was a gorgeous morning and very peaceful. In addition to autumn, late spring is a wonderful time to visit the Park, before hordes of tourists descend upon Montana like swarms of locusts.
We passed beaver dams, beautiful meadows, and lots of early blooming wild flowers on our hike up the valley.
We reached a junction for Aster Falls, only 0.1 miles. So we made the quick jaunt to it. The sun was almost directly overhead the waterfall, so I struggled to get some good photos. It took a little bit of lighting adjustment at back at home.
It was very beautiful and roaring from all the spring run off. The cool mist felt pretty nice from the already hot morning. We continued down the main trail thinking we would try to make it to Rockwell Falls. However, when we neared Paradise Creek we ran into another couple who said the hiker bridge hadn't been put back in place yet for the season, and the water was too strong and deep to cross safely. A bit farther downstream was another crossing designed for horses, so we figured the four of us would take a look. However, once again, the water was just too swift to safely cross.
At that point, Amber and I decided to return to Aster Falls and continue up the trail 0.6 miles to Aster Lookout. It was steep going, but we made it and enjoyed some time soaking in the scenery and warm sun. We ran into only a handful of other hikers. How often can you say that when you go hiking in Glacier National Park on a warm sunny day?
I was able to set the camera up on a small rock ledge and even get a picture of the two of us before we headed back down the trail.
Once back down at the trail head we enjoyed a picnic lunch before we made the drive back to Kalispell. Until our next adventure...
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