Even with ticketed entry, Glacier visitation surged

Opening day of the Going-to-the-Sun Road was a busy one in Glacier National Park, officials said last week.

Preliminary data indicates that there was a 41% increase in the number of vehicles on Going-to-the-Sun Road over opening day in 2019.

In 2019 however, the road was not completely open. Motorists had to turn around at Rising Sun because the east side was closed due to the pandemic and the Blackfeet Tribe had closed itself to outside visitors.

This year’s opener was different than any other, however, as it required a ticketed entry to the park.

Park officials said the system is working well, though they continue to modify it as the season progresses. With tickets available 60 days out, there were still tickets available Aug. 30 through Sept. 3 on recreation.gov.

By Thursday, the 60-day reservation will be moot, as tickets aren’t required after Labor Day.

The park said data suggests that congestion and gridlock would have required the west entrance to temporarily close at least 15 times from Memorial Day weekend through the end of June in the absence of the ticketed entry system.

Overall, the number of vehicles on Going-to-the-Sun Road during the same period was up 20% from 2019 levels.

Glacier has also closed the Avalanche Creek campground this year and opened it to parking, so more people can use that area than usual.

With the road open, the number of Going-to-the-Sun Road ticketed entry reservations available on Recreation.gov 48-hours in advance has increased. Tickets for the end of August are also still available for visitors planning trips later in the summer. Tickets are not required before 6 a.m. or after 5 p.m., and not required for other areas of the park.

The Polebridge entrance, for example, is usually closed to traffic by mid-morning because parking areas at Bowman and Kintla Lake fill up.

The park is seeing expected changes in visitation patterns it said in a release, with traffic more spread out throughout the day. Visitors can expect long lines and wait times at 5 p.m. when tickets aren’t required, which can be avoided by arriving closer to or after 6 p.m. 

Traffic on roads outside of the park are also busier at later hours. At 10 to 11 p.m., Highway 2 traffic is quite heavy, as people leave the park for the day.

July 1 marked the first day of operation for the park’s Ticket-to-Ride shuttle service.

Tickets for the shuttle are still available and can be reserved on Recreation.gov 60 days and 48 hours in advance.