Glacier: Tinkham Mountain Ridge
Two Medicine is a spectacular area of the park. The "Dawson-Pit" loop is a great day hike if you're up for 18 miles in a day. For this trip, we were interested in camping at Oldman Lake, then hiking up to Pitamakin Pass and out towards Tinkham Mountain. We'd never been there before, but it looked cool on the map. The approach to Oldman Lake is well graded, but the best views are once you're at the lake and starting to climb. We started early so we could drop our gear off at the Lake and then climb up to the pass. It was a little foggy, which was cool to look down on Pitamakin Lake and Seven Winds.
There was one small snow patch we had to cross, before we gained the saddle between McClintock Peak and Mount Morgan. The views from the ridge looking into Walton area were stunning.
From there we started hiking out towards Tinkham. We weren't sure if the rout went or not, but there did seem to be a climbers route or game trail along the ridge.
Eventually we climbed to a point where we didn't feel comfortable without some protection, so we hung out, ate lunch, and enjoyed the views.
From there we backtracked our way to the pass and towards our camp.
The fog from the morning had burned off and we had great views into the Cutbank drainage.
We made it back to the lake in time for a swim, dinner, and to catch the sunset over a still lake.
In the morning, we made some coffee and took the time to catch a few trout before we hiked back to the car. Overall a short but fun trip. Love this area!
Trip notes: We hiked just shy of 20 miles and 5,000' of elevation gain in the two days we were in the area. Since it's in the park, it does require a permit. This area, and a few others, only allows for a single night stay. A popular trip is to stay at Oldman and No Name Lakes in either direction as you do the loop. If you have a chance to do it I highly recommend!
