Parking
Start at the North Shore Trailhead beside Two Medicine Campground, reached from Two Medicine Road. Use this access for the full out-and-back; the seasonal boat departs from the South Shore for a shorter hike.
Overview
About Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail
Why go
- A backcountry lake, mountain meadow, and optional Twin Falls spur.
- Only about 350 feet of gain over the full North Shore route.
Heads up
- Ten miles round trip, with most of the payoff near the end.
Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail is a 10-mile out-and-back from the North Shore Trailhead, a mostly gentle forest walk to a rocky lake shore beneath the steep walls below Lone Walker Mountain. The route gains about 350 feet. Allow five to six hours with breaks. This is a good choice if you want a long, low-climb day hike to a backcountry lake, but most of the payoff comes near the far end.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Glacier map
Full mapElevation5,187–5,551 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
1 active Glacier alert
- ClosureTwo Medicine Campground closed for 2026 constructionMentions Two Medicine Campground, referenced in this guideTwo Medicine Campground is closed throughout 2026 because of construction in the Two Medicine developed area.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Glacier Tour Guide
Your drive to Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Glacier National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Glacier audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Two Medicine North Shore and Twin Falls0:00 / 0:26
“You're nearing Two Medicine's North Shore Trailhead, where Twin Falls makes a gentle but fairly long waterfall walk. Allow about four hours for seven miles round trip to the two cascades below Pumpelly Pillar.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Glacier Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Scenic Point and Appistoki Falls
- Two Medicine Lake and South Shore
- Running Eagle Falls
- Two Medicine on the Radio
- 204 audio storiesacross Glacier’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grizzly Bear, Wolverine, Mountain Goat, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 157 trails, 91 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Our first time to glacier and we used the audio portion for Going to the Sun Road. Wonderful information with perfect advice of what to see and do along the road.”
Trail guide
Hiking Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail
The westbound approachFrom the north shore of Two Medicine Lake, the trail works west through forest.
From the north shore of Two Medicine Lake, the trail works west through forest. Farther along, a short connector leads to the westbound route for Upper Two Medicine Lake; the shared trail network also leads toward longer hikes such as Dawson Pass. Keep the lake as your destination at the junctions. The upper route is an out-and-back, and the 10-mile figure does not include any optional detour.
A detour for Twin FallsA short spur reaches Twin Falls along the way.
A short spur reaches Twin Falls along the way. Two separate cascades drop about 80 feet, though brush and fallen wood can screen part of the view. Treat the falls as a side trip: return to the main trail to continue toward the lake, and allow extra time for the spur.
Meadow, pond, and lake shorePast the falls junction, the wooded trail opens into a meadow with views toward Rising Bull…
Past the falls junction, the wooded trail opens into a meadow with views toward Rising Bull Ridge, Mount Rockwell, and Lone Walker Mountain. It then passes a small pond, climbs briefly, and reaches the lake. Upper Two Medicine sits in a V-shaped valley below a steep headwall. A small rocky beach and driftwood at the lake mouth make a distinctive foreground for a photo of the water and surrounding walls.
A landmark in the valleyLook through the trees for Pumpelly Pillar, a cone-shaped landmark above the route.
Look through the trees for Pumpelly Pillar, a cone-shaped landmark above the route. It was named for Raphael Pumpelly, who led an 1883 railway survey party through the region.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Glacier
404 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
11 sightingsWolverineMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
1,173 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
1,000 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
395 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
506 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Glacier. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
