Glacier National Park: Hiking to Oldman Lake Pitamakan Pass
Dry Fork Trail: Two Medicine to Oldman Lake
Distance: ~13 miles round trip
Activities: Hiking
Highlights: Aspen and Lodgepole Pine Forest, Meadows, Alpine Cirque
Range: Flathead Mountain Range
Location: Flathead County, Montana, USA
Starting Point: Two Medicine Entrance Station
We hiked this 13.3 mile bad boy a couple of springs ago when Sarah Cuiksa, the ultimate East Asian adventure tour guide (and one of my best friends) was taking her 4,500 miles to Alaska/National Park Tour 2012.
Going to the Sun Road was still closed so we decided to hit the Two Medicine area and hike to what Cuiksa and I imagined would be a beautiful blue body of water reflecting fluttering sunshine and surrounding mountain views.
Despite it being the end of May and Going to the Sun Road still being closed for obvious reasons we were fairly certain that in no time at all we would be lounging lakeside while basking in the glory of our Lewis and Clark-like trail blazing.
That is until the last two or so miles when we less than enthusiastically trudged through deep, wet snow only to arrive at the coldest, darkest, most unexciting watering hole that either of us could have possibly imagined on that beautifully warm, sunny day. So, cold, wet, and mildly furious at having our hopeful lakeside basking expectations shattered, I was in no mood to photograph this utter let down. Something I now regret as Cuiksa dropped her camera in the mud before we left Bozeman and the following two photos are the only iPhone relics we have of it.
Why in my fury am I laughing you ask? Likely because after complaining about the unfortunate current status of this here ice body, David had tossed me into that mussed pile of snow.
All in all, it was a unforgettable, scenic adventure.
For more details check out my Oldman Lake Pitamakan Pass trail guide on Gore-Tex.com and for current hiking conditions have a look at the Pitamakin Pass (Oldman Lake) Trail Status report on NPS.gov.
Pin it for your bucket list!
