I learned from the day before and had a plan for our second day at Glacier National Park. We were going to take a boat ride at Two Medicine Lake and hike to Twin Falls.
Journey to the east
We woke up early and drove to the east side of the park. This was about an hour and a half drive, so I made sure to download some podcasts for the trip. We enjoyed the Night of the Grizzlies episode of Stuff You Should Know about bears in Glacier and the podcast, Headwaters, which is put out by Glacier National Park. On the way, we noticed a lot of cars stopped by the side of the road. We parked and were graced with our first moose sighting! A female moose was chilling in a marsh, eating away.
We got to Two Medicine Lake with plenty of time, which was good because I forgot my sweatshirt and it was cold out. I went to the visitor center and bought a new cozy one and Tyler found a sticker for his water bottle. We took the obligatory water bottle sticker picture and then it was time for the boat trip.
Boat Tour
As we were getting on the boat, we learned that the bridge was out on the trail to Twin Falls, and unless we wanted to forge a creek that was over knee high, we would not be able to get there. We were bummed but determined to enjoy the boat ride. The mountains were beautiful, but what we most enjoyed was learning about the park from the boat captain. She told remarkable stories about the park and its history. We were on the boat for about 45 minutes and then headed back to the car.
We made a quick stop at Running Eagle Falls which is just a short walk off the main road. It was my favorite waterfall in the entire park!
Many Glaciers
Because we were already on the west side of the park, we decided to drive another hour up to Many Glaciers and explore. I have been on a never ending hunt to spot a big ole daddy moose (aka a bull) ever since we moved to Colorado. I had read that the best place to see moose is up at Many Glaciers, so I was pumped. I had really wanted to take the Many Glaciers boat ride and do some hikes from where it dropped you off, but those tours did not start for a few more days. Instead we parked at the Many Glacier lodge, grabbed a snack and then hiked half way around Swiftcurrent Lake and to Lake Josephine. Due to construction, you could not go around the whole lake, so we turned around and headed back to the lodge. In total we did a nice and easy two miles.
We did not see any wildlife on our hike besides a few deer, so we went up to the balcony of the lodge with binoculars. We enjoyed the views for a little while and then headed to our next stop.
St. Mary’s
Just a few minutes down the road is St. Mary’s, which has the other half of the Going To The Sun Road. We decided to drive up it as far as we could. The views were otherworldly and we finally got to see our first glacier in Glacier!
Once we hit the closed section, we turned around and started the two hour drive back to the RV and the puppers.