What Is Two Medicine Lake And Where Is It?
Two Medicine Lake is in northern Montana not to far from the Canadian border. It is located within the Two Medicine section of Glacier National Park. While it is a popular spot at Glacier National Park, is it may be the least trafficked and least crowded area of the park.
The famous Going To The Sun Road goes from West Glacier to St. Mary and bypasses the town of East Glacier and the Two Medicine area of the park. It take a bit of out of the way driving to get to Two Medicine. Once most people get to St. Mary they tend to head up to the more popular Many Glacier section of the park.
Two Medicine Lake is one of the more popular sunrise photo locations in the park along with Swiftcurrent Lake, St. Mary Lake on the east side of the park and Lake McDonald on the west side of Glacier National Park.
What Is It Like To Travel To Two Medicine Lake At Glacier National Park?
If you are close enough to take a road trip to Glacier National Park, you’ll just be driving some mountain roads. They may be filled with traffic during the peak summer season. Lately there has been some construction in the area.
If you’re not close enough to take a road trip there, then you’ll probably want to fly into the Kalispell Airport, get a rental car and go from there. From the Kalispell Airport you’ll have about a 90 mile drive that can take up to 2 hours to get to Two Medicine Lake. If you’ll be spending much time in the Two Medicine area, you’ll probably want to find lodging in the small town of East Glacier or camp in the Two Medicine section of Glacier National Park.
From East Glacier you’ll have about a 20 minute drive to Two Medicine Lake and you’ll park right at the lake assuming there is parking. As soon as you get out of your car in the parking lot you’ll be right at the lake and may choose to walk around the lake shore a little bit to line up the perfect shot.
Typically, Two Medicine Lake is not a crowded spot for sunrise photos though it is probably one of the top-5 sunrise spots by a lake that is easily accessible in Glacier National Park. On a calm day, the surrounding mountains reflect in the lake and the mountain peaks will light up on a day when the clouds don’t block the rising sun in the morning.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo At Two Medicine Lake At Glacier National Park?
If you want to get a great wall art quality photo at Two Medicine Lake, your best bet to get something good is when the winds are calm and you get the mountains reflecting in the lake. If you can get that at sunrise, that will likely be your best bet.
At Two Medicine Lake there is a boat dock that often has a number of boats around it. The lake shore is often pretty rocky though the rocks aren’t as brightly colored as the ones at Lake McDonald on the west side of the park. There is often driftwood washed up on the shore or close that may be used for silhouettes in the water.
Your best bet is to watch the weather and keep an eye on the hourly weather a little bit before and after sunrise. If it will b mostly clear and the wind speed calm or close to it that will be your best time to go photograph Two Medicine Lake.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing Two Medicine Lake At Glacier National Park?
When photographing Two Medicine Lake at Glacier National Park, most any camera will do. For best results and large files for awesome wall art prints a full frame DSLR or mirrorless camera would probably produce the best files. Combine one of those with at fairly wide angle lens and you’ll be set. Depending on your composition a 17-40mm or a 24-105mm lens would work well. If you have both with you, you’ll have a lot more options.
Two Medicine does lend itself to panoramic shots. The mountains behind the lake stretch out pretty far. If you have a camera that will shoot panoramas, that will work. If you want to get higher quality larger files a panoramic shots then stitching single shots together may be a better way to go.
If you’ll be shooting in low light conditions at sunrise you’ll want to have a tripod for the longer exposures in low light. Likewise, you’ll be shooting panoramic shots.
What Is The Story Behind This Two Medicine Lake Sunrise Wall Art Photo?
For years I’d been taking road trips across the US and Canada to the national parks. Glacier National Park was always a stop along the way. Like many people I spend most of my time on between West Glacier near Lake McDonald and St. Mary near St Mary Lake along the Going to the Sun Road along with plenty of time in Many Glacier. Since the Two Medicine and East Glacier section of the park was not along that route I didn’t spend much time there. When you hear about Glacier, you don’t often hear much about Two Medicine.
During the summer of 2019 I spent a lot of time staying in the town of East Glacier. It was the one place I could find relatively cheap lodging last minute when I was tired of sleeping in my car or a tent in one of the campgrounds around Glacier.
While staying in East Glacier, I made Hidden Lake Sunset Photos a priority and planned to spend a decent chunk of time getting to know the Two Medicine section of the park. Each day I’d look at the hourly weather forecasts for the following sunrise and sunset before deciding whether to go out and shoot or stay in, sleep and get some photo work done.
Since Two Medicine Lake is only about a 10 miles drive I’d go out for sunrise every day unless the skies were full of dark clouds or it was actually raining. On this particular morning the forecast called for dead calm winds and partly cloudy skies. Fortunately the hourly forecast was right on the money. The mountain peaks lit up as did the skies over the mountains.
Out of about 7 days spent in East Glacier, about half of them were clear enough for the mountains to glow at sunrise. Only a couple were paired with calm winds and mountain reflections in the waters of Two Medicine Lake.
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