We retraced our route and headed south to the Two Medicine entrance. From the twisting and undulating highway we were able to catch some spectacular vistas. As we reentered the park we stopped to take a short hike to Soaring Eagle Falls. These falls are commonly called Trick Falls since two falls overlay one another. It’s only when the upper falls dry up during the summer that the underlying falls are exposed. We found this to be an exquisite place ... and it is understandable why the Indians came here to experience their vision quests.

Two Medicine Lodge, now a general store, was built in 1913. Guided horse parties would arrive here from Glacier Park Hotel ... a day's ride ... before continuing on to the next chalet in the chain. There were no roads back then ... so this was the only way into the interior.

Just down the road from the Two Medicine entrance is the grandest of the historic park lodges … the 1913 Glacier Park Lodge. When we entered, we raised our faces in wonder at the four story lobby built of immense Douglas fir timbers that run floor to ceiling (the logs were five to eight hundred years old when they were cut, still retain their bark and measure thirty-six to forty-two inches in diameter). When sitting in this impressively rustic space, we felt like picnickers in an old-growth grove. Once again, Danny found a grand piano and served up another spirited boogie-woogie for the guests. Where's the tip jar?

Across from the lodge is the East Glacier train station. Historic photographs show that when early-20th-century visitors arrived by train they were greeted at the station by traditionally dressed Indians from the Blackfeet Nation and driven in wagons the short distance to the lodge.

The Theodore Roosevelt Monument, a 60-foot obelisk dedicated in 1931, marks the Continental Divide at Marias Pass.

On the way back to our RV park in Coram, we crossed the Continental Divide at Marias Pass. At an elevation of 5216 feet, it is the lowest of the Rocky Mountain passes in Montana. We stopped here a week later (in the cold and rain) on our way to Great Falls and learned the intriguing story of "Slippery Bill" Morrison and Highway 2 ... the Roosevelt International Highway.

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