Unless Congress reaches last minute budget deal, Glacier National Park will shutdown Sunday

If Congress can’t reach a budget deal by tomorrow, Glacier National Park, along with hundreds of other national parks cross the U.S., will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning.

“In the event of a lapse in annual government appropriations, National Park Service sites will be closed. This means that the majority of national parks will be closed to public access. Areas that, by their nature, are physically accessible to the public will face significantly reduced visitor services,” the Park Service said in a release Friday.

Glacier can close most of its access points, including the Going-to-the-Sun Road, because the roads have gates that block access.

During previous shutdowns, Glacier has also put up barriers at the West Entrance, which doesn’t have a gate until Lake McDonald.

Exact details of Glacier’s plan were not immediately available.

Most employees will be furloughed, though in Glacier, it typically keeps rangers on duty to patrol the park. But with a shutdown, other activities, like camping, are prohibited and non-essential staff are furloughed.

The shutdown, if it happens, comes as the area still has thousands of visitors in the valley — the last government shutdown was in January 2019, which is typically one of the slowest months in the park.

This fall the weather has been largely pleasant and throngs of tourists are still visiting, because Glacier doesn’t require reservations after the second weekend of September.

As such, visitors have been vacationing in the fall.

Logan Pass is currently closed anyway, as recent snows have closed the Going-to-the-Sun Road from Avalanche Creek to Jackson Glacier Overlook.

But the weather is expected to be back in the 60s by the middle of next week, which means the road would likely reopen over the pass, provided the government is actually operating.