Hey Guys!
This post continues our time in Glacier National Park.
Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here, Day 7 here & Day 8 here…click here to read my post on 101 Things to Do Outside of Glacier National Park & click here to read my post from the West side of the park.
Tip: Reservations to drive the Going to the Sun Road were required for 2021 & I’m sure they will be for 2022 as well. Read here on how to get reservations for the park. The park stopped requiring reservations to enter the park on Sept. 6th, 2021. So, think about going after that date but be aware that a lot of things start closing after Labor Day.
On our 3rd day, we started the morning with breakfast and coffee in our room.
Shots of the hotel
Our view while sitting on the front porch of our hotel.
After breakfast, we headed to Two Medicine.
Tip: Reservations are now required to enter Two Medicine and the Many Glacier area.
Views along the way…
This side of the park lies on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Last year, they closed the East side to protect their people from Covid.
So, this was our first time on this side of the park.
Just 2 miles south of St Mary, we spotted a pullover and decided to stop.
The pullover was dedicated to the Blackfeet Indian Tribe.
This picturesque viewing area features striking life size, iron teepees designed by artist Duane After Buffalo.
You can walk along paved pathways to read the information plaques about the area & it’s history.
The aftermath of the Red Eagle & Reynolds Creek Fires can be seen in charred stands of trees and the new vegetation beginning to line their undergrowth.
Click here & here to read about art that can be seen on the East Side
After this short stop, we continued our drive to Two Medicine….
We stopped to snap a picture of these beautiful Aspen trees
Click here to read about the different types of trees in Glacier.
We drove the scenic Looking Glass Road (AKA Hwy 49) to Two Medicine and I highly recommend this drive if you are on the East side!
Click here for more scenic drives around Glacier
The views on this drive are incredible!
The road is only about 10 miles long and is closed during the winter months.
After miles of curves, we finally ended up at the entrance to Two Medicine
Once you enter the park, it’s only about a 10 mile drive to Two Medicine Lake…this is the only road in/out of the park.
Click here for a map of Two Medicine & the hikes in this area
We headed to our first stop of the day, Running Eagle Falls.
It’s located approx. 2 mins from the entrance.
Views along the way..
Running Eagle Falls is a must see hike while in Two Medicine. Not only is it a beautiful falls, but it’s also only 0.6 miles round trip. The hike is also very flat so it’s doable for most anyone.
The parking here fills up quickly so get here early!
The story of Running Eagle Falls..
Views along the trail..
The beautiful Running Eagle Falls!
Running Eagle Falls, also known as “Trick Falls,” flows off the outlet stream between Two Medicine Lake and Lower Two Medicine Lake.
The waterfall receives its nickname, “Trick Falls”, because there are actually two separate waterfalls at this location.
During the spring run-off, water rushes over the top ledge, creating a 40-foot drop, while completely or partially obscuring the lower falls.
Sadly, that usually only happens through late July, so we didn’t get to see the two falls.
After leaving here, we headed a few miles down the road to Two Medicine Lake.
Approximately 5 mins from Running Eagles is another falls called Appistoki Falls. The hike is only 1.3 miles roundtrip with an elevation gain of 175 ft. We decided to pass on this hike.
Tip: The road ends at Two Medicine Lake and most all of the hikes in the park start from this location.
Once we arrived to the parking area of Two Medicine Lake, we decided to have lunch at one of the nearby picnic tables.
After lunch, we walked down to the lake…the views were amazing!
You can walk along the shoreline for quite a ways & it’s a great place to spend the day!
The hubby looking for rocks to skip….he’s still a kid at heart! lol
Driftwood lying near the shoreline 
After spending a few minutes at the lake, we walked over to the Two Medicine General Store...sadly, it was already closed for the season. 
Views of Two Medicine Lake near the general store..
This is where you would catch the boat if you book a boat tour of Two Medicine Lake.
Click here for hikes in Two Medicine & here for a great post on things to do on this side of the park
There are only a few short hikes in this area…besides Running Eagle Falls and Appistoki Falls, you have Aster Falls 3 mi r/trip & Aster Park 4 mi r/trip. Twin Falls is only like 2 mi r/trip if you take the boat, 7 if you don’t.
After spending a few hours here, we decided to head back to our hotel.
Shots along the way..
After getting back to our hotel at Rising Sun, we spent a few minutes relaxing before we headed out to dinner.
For dinner, we had decided to eat at the Cattle Baron Supper Club in Babb.
The restaurant was approx. 20 mins from our hotel.
If you’re a steak lover, you definitely don’t want to miss out on eating here!
Read reviews here
We arrived about 15-20 mins before it opened and there were several cars already at the restaurant.
Everyone was sitting in their cars waiting, so I decided to get out and go stand by the door and wait. We ended up being the first ones let in the restaurant! lol
The restaurant doesn’t look like much from the outside but the inside is very nice and huge!
The Cattle Baron is known for its delicious steaks but they offer a variety of foods like lamb, pork chops, fish, salads, lobster, crab, etc.
Tip: Click here for more popular restaurants on the East side.
We both decided to order the Baroness…which was a steak smothered in crab meat and topped with a special sauce. The cost was $39 each.
The meal came with fresh baked bread, a salad, 1/2 of a potato covered in ranch dressing & seasonal vegetables.
The food was so delicious! You could literally cut the steak with a fork it was so tender!
Shots of the inside of the restaurant
The restaurant had a lot of history about the Blackfeet Indian Tribe..
As we were leaving the restaurant, we noticed a little church sitting up on a hill so we drove over to get a picture.
The church is called St Mary Catholic Church….it looked abandoned but apparently, from what I found online, they still hold services here.
Thronson’s General Store sits across the street from the church…they have a motel as well.
Heading back to our hotel…
Gas was $3.99 a gallon while we were there.
The St Mary Visitor Center..St Mary is located right outside the East Entrance.
Shots shortly after entering the park from the East Entrance..
Once we had driven a couple of miles past the entrance, we spotted a grizzly near the Two Dog Flats area…this is a very popular place to spot wildlife…especially bears!
There is a very small sign on the road that says Two Dog Flats but it can be hard to spot due to its size. Just be on the lookout for wildlife as soon as you enter the park from the East.
Thankfully, I had my canon camera that has a 50x zoom lens!
After taking 139 pictures of the grizzly, we headed back to our hotel…
After arriving to the entrance of our hotel, we noticed a ton of vehicles pulled over on the side of the road…well, this only means one thing, an animal has been spotted.
It wasn’t long before we spotted what everyone was looking at, a black bear!
We decided to drive back down towards Two Dog Flats to see if we could spot anymore wildlife!
We spotted a herd of elk in the distance…
We also spotted the grizzly again!
After taking way too many pictures, we headed back to our hotel and called it a night!
Tip: If you are into night photography, don’t forget that Glacier is a Dark Sky Park...the sky is amazing at night!
Tip: For places to stay on the East side click here and here
Tip: Make sure to bring some binoculars or a camera with a zoom lens
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for Day 4!
Don’t forget to read my posts on the West side from our visit last year!