Glacier Park Backcountry resos start next week

Things should get back to relative normal in Glacier National Park’s backcountry this season.

The park anticipates that all backcountry campsites should be available, with the exception of the Goat Haunt shelters.

They will remain closed but hikers and campers can still travel through the area.

Reservations for the backcountry sites will first be available on March 17.

Folks should visit https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/backcountry.htm for more information on how to submit an application.

The online permits are done on a lottery system.

In the North Fork, both Bowman and Kintla Lakes

will be open to boats this summer, though boats need to be inspected for aquatic invasive species in Apgar before launching.

Nearly 100,000 people went through the Polebridge entrance last year, as the east side of the park was closed. District Ranger Jim Dahlstrom said the plan is to at least partially reopen the Bowman and Kintla lake campgrounds. Last year the campgrounds were closed and used for parking.

This year the hope is to have them at half capacity at least to start, as the park will try to strike a balance between day use and campers.

Dahlstrom said last year a lot of people ended up in Polebridge by mistake.

“An inordinate number of people arrived in Polebridge and didn’t know where they were,” he said.

Part of the problem is map apps were sending people to the wrong place.

Dahlstrom said he talked to Apple and they agreed to take Polebridge off the app if a person is searching for the Going-to-the- Sun Road.