Columbia Falls, MT (Glacier National Park)–Part 2

I only went to the east side of Glacier National Park a few times.  One of those times I headed to the Two Medicines area of Glacier which is in the southeast section.  On the way, I stopped at a location that is one of the most photographed places in Glacier – St. Mary’s Lake and Wild Goose Island.  On my first stop there was no wind, so I got some decent reflection shots -

I stopped again a few days later when coming back from Canada’s Waterton park and got a different perspective of the island and surrounding mountains. 

You can make out the tiny island much better in the shot above. 

There were many great views on the road to Two Medicine -

A view as I got into the Two Medicine area -

In the Two Medicines area, I walked to the Running Eagle Falls. This falls is also known as Trick Falls and in the pictures below you can see why.

As you can see there is much more water at the bottom of the falls than at the top.  In the last picture you can see that some water comes from the ground.  From what I read it comes from a sinkhole.  Later in the summer, this waterfall looks quite different as the water dries up, only the bottom portion has water. 

The picture above was taken from www.hikinginglacier.com/running-eagle_falls.htm  I used that site quite a bit during my visit. 

I found and enjoyed a nice lunch spot in the Two Medicine area -

More scenery from Going to the Sun road --

The weeping wall is an area along Going to the Sun road that has lots of small waterfalls (especially with the snow melt) and most of them just run onto the road. If you have your windows and/or sunroof open, you will get wet – take it from me, I know from experience!!

One day, I took a dirt back road into the west side of the park. I enjoyed the views, even when I saw the area where there had been a wildfire in 2003.

I believe the mountains in the background are in Canada, maybe Waterton park (which I visited later).

On another trip, I visited the Trail of the Cedars which is a a short mile or so walk. It is a loop, but I walked it twice just to see the fall area again.

There are some glaciers still left in Glacier National Park, but that is not the big draw to this park. I only saw 2 and they were small. I have read that by 2030 there may be no glaciers left in the park.

Jackson Glacier -