Glacier visitation robust in August

While visitation to Glacier National Park is down overall, the number of visitors to the Park’s west entrances — the only ones that are open — is either nearly the same as last August, or way up.

The west entrance recorded 365,352 visitors in August this year, a drop of just 0.2% over last year. That’s about 11,785 visitors a day.

Polebridge, however, was up 23.4 percent over last year, with 24,119 turning the gates at the North Fork entrance.

The Polebridge entrance was way up in July as well.

To date, Polebridge has seen 73,520 visits, up 10.5% over last year, a remarkable figure considering Glacier was closed for two months due to coronavirus concerns.

Even with the east side of Glacier closed due to coronavirus concerns on the Blackfeet Reservation, the park has still seen 1.171 million visitors this year.

But that’s a drop of 52.1% over last year.

The August numbers don’t reflect Labor Day weekend, when so many people tried to get into Glacier that the Park ended up closing the west entrance for several hours on consecutive days.

In July, the Polebridge entrance saw 35,652 visitors. Last year it saw 24,435.

The Park is now winding down services for fall. All full service auto campgrounds are closed and the backcountry permit center has reduced hours. The lodges will completely close within the next week.

There still is primitive auto camping available at the Apgar Loop, but there’s no running water. That remains open through the winter months.