Park plows reach the Big Drift; Kintla Lake road opens

The end is near. Glacier National Park plow crews have reached the Big Drift on the Going-to-the-Sun Road just east of Logan Pass.

The Big Drift is the last hurdle to plowing the highway. The east side crew is at the east side tunnel, but wasn’t quite through it as of presstime.

Park crews still have to sweep the road and put up hundreds of removable guardrails by hand in order to get the road open to vehicles.

Another key park road is also open. The road to Kintla Lake and the Kintla Lake campground have also opened. Kintla is a primitive camp with no running water or flush toilets.

The Inside North Fork Road is now open south to Logging Creek Ranger Station and to Camas Creek from the south. The middle section from Camas to Logging Creek has been closed for a few years now, as the Park is still determining whether it will open it to vehicle traffic. The road is in need of repairs and parts of it will need to be moved because of washouts from creek and the North Fork of the Flathead. It’s the oldest road in Glacier.

All other secondary park roads are open except for the Cut Bank Road.

The hiker-biker closure is at the Loop when crews are working on the west side and at Siyeh Bend on the east side.