Two Medicine to East Glacier

[10-K]

How difficult is it to get from Two Medicine Campground back to East Glacier hitching?

I'm looking at slackpacking the section between Two Medicine and East Glacier the day before my permit starts which will put me ending at Two Medicine per my permit.

I'll need to get from there back to East Glacier to spend the night, then hike out of the park the following morning.

[Dogwood]

I suppose the TC is on your mind but you didn't say whether you were going CDT SOBO or NOBO. As long as the roads are decently drivable(and HWY 2 usually is) one of the easiest hitches in G NP IMO. I did this as a rainy day day hike basically slackpacking it too food wise but going SOBO. At Two Medicine supplement at the TM Grill. I had a huge plate of pasta primavera. When going through TM CG or staying there heed the regs on protecting your food from da bears. NP Rangers are adamant about enforcing that reg in this CG. In East Glacier there is a hostel just a short walk from the train station, CDT, and the Lodge. Check out the Lodge! It's one those grand NP lodges. I think the hostel was Brownies. I stayed there one night as I was exiting G NP after a CDT SOBO resupply.

[chiefiepoo]

Two thoughts on getting out of TM campground. I was dropped off there by some friends and I spent two days day hiking and setting up in one of the hike / biker sites. Come the morning to leave, I looked around at who was packing up to leave and asked a few motor campers for a ride. It only took 3 tries to find a willing driver to take me back to East Glacier. Depending on the time of your visit, the East side shuttle will pick you up at the TM camp store and take you back to East Glacier for $10. , (2013 rate). I'm headed there by train from Chicago on 8/4 until 8/18. Hope to do a lot of hiking and backpacking on the east side this year.

[Slo-go'en]

Of course with Hitch hiking you never know. You could score right away or not at all. There is a shuttle service but they don't drive into the park so you have to get to gate. You also need to make a reservation before hand. You do all that at the Lodge in E. Glacier. I used them to get back to E.Glacier from St. Mary.

Definitely use the hostel behind the Mexican restaurant which is just off the main drag across from the train station. There is a youth hostel the other side of town, but it's a lot busier and nosier as many of the summer help kids stay there. But if you want to go all out, stay at the magnificent East Glacier lodge, one of the biggest log structures in the US. They used red wood trees to hold the place up! And of course, there are a couple of motels in town too.

[Jordan's Dad]

The "mexican restaurant" Slo-go'en references above is Serrano's. If you spend a night in East Glacier, do yourself a favor and have dinner there. Be sure to get in line early, you won't regret it.

[fiddlehead]

I tried hitching in that area 18 years ago and it was tough.
Tourists don't want to pick up hitchhikers.
Your best bet would be a sign and hope some park employees know what the CDT is and pick you up.
Or talk to the guy at whispering pines motel in E. Glacier.
I forget his name but he has hiked the AT and was a big help (advice-wise) for me when I came through there.

[Spirit Walker]

Mark Howser is the man at the Whistling Swan. He also owns the Diner and the grocery store/bakery. He is very helpful to hikers. It shouldn't be a problem getting a ride, since most people will be heading south out of the Park. Getting a ride farther north can be harder, but the Park employees are often helpful giving rides.

I'll second Serranos as a good stop for dinner, if you can get in. It gets busy in the summer.

[Colter]

How difficult is it to get from Two Medicine Campground back to East Glacier hitching?

I'm looking at slackpacking the section between Two Medicine and East Glacier the day before my permit starts which will put me ending at Two Medicine per my permit.

I'll need to get from there back to East Glacier to spend the night, then hike out of the park the following morning.

I was hiking the CDT northbound and had been told by a couple of Park Service employees that the Two Medicine store was open. When I got there it was closed for the season so I didn't have enough food to continue. I had had a long conversation with a couple at the campground and offered to pay them for a quick run into East Glacier but they declined.

Plan C, the hitch, actually went pretty well. A young couple that was working at East Glacier Lodge gave me a ride.

[Dogwood]

In addition to hitching this once SOBO I've taken the East Side Shuttle twice. Both times for $10 each way. It's now $15 each way. Both times both during the last wk of June I had no shuttle reservation. If attempting to take this shuttle during high peak usage in the park make reservations. When I've taken this shuttle they were using a van(ie; limited seating).

http://www.glacierparkinc.com/shuttle_information.php

[Dogwood]

It's an easy hitch though as long as you aren't hiking with that German Shepard. I'm sure by now someone like you knows how to hitch rides while on thrus.

[Dogwood]

The only reason why I took those shuttle rides those two times is because all day downpours were in the forecast. I was drenched both times by the time I reached the end of my day hikes at either TM or EG. I just wanted to get in that van and get out of my wet clothes and have a hot meal. I forgot to mention Serranos. Yes, to what everyone else said about them. I've eaten there twice.

[10-K]

I'm taking that shuttle from the lodge at E. Glacier up to Chief Mt. I see that it also runs to Two Medicine.

The reason I asked this question is because I'm going to have a day to kill before I start the CDT and thought I'd hike the section between E. Glacier and Two Medicine. When I started hiking the CDT south from Chief Mountain and got back to Two Medicine I could hitch back to E. Glacier and try to get in a nero before hiking out of the park over Marias Pass.

[Spirit Walker]

You can also slack the section from Marias Pass back to E. Glacier. That's 16 miles along the southern edge of the park. Not one of the spectacular sections of Glacier, so doing it as a slack pack made the miles go very quickly.

[Dogwood]

SOBOers unite. It seems so many thru-hikes ago that I'd have to look up my start date. It was either June 23 or 26 2010. I started solo at the Belly River TH just before the U.S./Can Border/Customs on Hwy 17/6. Hitched there over Going to the Sun Rd on the first day the road opened from one of the very first 50 vehicles allowed to drive the road. Cool 29 ft deep snow canyon plowed from the road at Logan Pass. Got snow within 1 mile of the Belly Creek TH. Everything was deep snow until Virgina Falls. No trail. No footsteps. Then intermittent snow all the way into Bob Marshall Wilderness The Highline Tr(CDT proper), which is what I wanted to take, was still socked in with dangerous snow and ice which in my estimate would have required some real mountaineering equip which I didn't have. No NP Backcountry Rangers had been up there hiking the Highline yet either. I just had my Kathoola Micro Spikes and CAMP Corsa. A fall on the Highline in those 65-75* sloped icy conditions without quickly self arresting or being roped off would have likely resulted in my hike ending before it had a chance to really start. That really irked me not starting at Waterton NP but after talking to one intrepid SOBO CDTer who did start at Waterton two days after me with real mountaineering equip (instep crampons, boots, two BD long Ti ice axes, etc) not really knowing what he was getting into yet perilously getting through I knew I had made the right choice for me. I'm telling you all this not so I can just rehash my hike but to remind you it's the CDT. It's OK to take alternate CDT routes(maybe even designing one of your own!), bounce NOBO for awhile, etc. Many SOBOers do especially through G NP depending on their start dates and prevailing conditions. Enjoy the freedom of a CDT hike without so many of the puritanical judgments that sometimes prevail with other trails. Have a great hike 10-K.

[Dogwood]

Often Ptarmigan Tunnel is still socked in during all of June until sometime in mid July.

[magic_game03]

funny, I answered this question in one of your past post because I did it last year. But I realize you don't like my post responses so… I give up.

[10-K]

I'm sure it will work out fine. I can hike the CDT through the park with the permit I have but there are a few different ways to make it a smoother hike.

First attempt will be to add Old Man Lake to my current permit which is the best choice. Worse case I stay at Cutbank Creek one night and Two Medicine hiker/biker site one night.

FWIW, I've spent probably 90% of my planning time for this 1400 mile hike trying to figure out the first 100 miles.

[Dogwood]

LOL. Give me a holla 10-k should you need any of my CDT maps, guidebooks, resupply pt info, bear canisters, etc.

[Marta]

Oldman Lake is nice. I haven't camped there, but the first time I day-hiked there and back from Two Med, my husband and I sat on the shore for half an hour or more, watching a bald eagle hanging out in a tree, and occasionally swooping down on the lake.

[10-K]

You can also slack the section from Marias Pass back to E. Glacier. That's 16 miles along the southern edge of the park. Not one of the spectacular sections of Glacier, so doing it as a slack pack made the miles go very quickly.

Man, thanks for that suggestion! I was able to line up a shuttle to do just that.