Two Medicine Valley

The mountains that form this part of the Continental Divide were known to the Blackfeet Indians as the “Backbone of the World.” They used the Two Medicine area for vision quests as well as hunting and gathering. The towering spires and sheer cliffs still provoke awe in travelers searching for a haven from the hurried pace of the modern world. A well-worn network of trails here provides access to a landscape of unequaled beauty, visiting peaceful lakes and dizzying heights.

In this eastern part of the park, sheer mountains rise abruptly from the rolling Great Plains, providing a mixture of flora and fauna from widely different biotic communities. The alpine communities of higher elevations grade into grasslands adapted to the more arid plains. Since the mountains of the divide form a barrier to moisture-laden maritime air masses, this area occupies a rain shadow. Precipitation on the plains falls mostly in summer in the form of brief thunderstorms, following the rainfall regime of the high plains. This pattern of precipitation favors shallow-rooted grasses over larger trees and shrubs, thus accounting for the lack of lush forests on this side of the divide.

Area wildlife reflects the drier vegetation. Bighorn sheep, favoring grasses as forage, are seen more commonly in this drier area than are mountain goats. Golden eagles soar on updrafts created by the warmth of the sun on open grasslands. Waterfalls block the immigration of native fish into most of the high lakes; fish found in most of these lakes were introduced at some time in the past. These planted fish have successfully made a place for themselves in the lake ecosystems and now sustain their populations naturally, without supplementary plantings by the National Park Service.

Dry winds roar through the high mountain passes here, a dominant force in shaping the patterns of vegetation in the Front Range. These same winds reach speeds upwards of 80 miles per hour and cause incredibly cold wind-chill factors in winter.