Glacier Park visitation continued to be robust in August, up almost 15% over last year

Hungry Horse News

Visitation to Glacier National Park in August was up almost 15% over last year, according to figures recently released by Park Service.

This year just under 749,000 visited Glacier in August compared to 652,866 last year.

This year is the third busiest August ever, just slightly eclipsing August 2016 when 748,565, visitors were counted.

To date, Glacier has seen 2.399 million visitors compared to 2.198 million last year, an increase of 9.1%.

St. Mary saw the largest increase, with 23.2% more visitors than last year, as Glacier didn’t require a reservation to enter the Going-to-the-Sun Road on the east side this summer.

People seem to be driving “around” to drive the historic highway, as they can go up and over the divide on Highway 2 at Marias Pass, then drive to St. Mary, go over the Sun Road and make a loop back to the west side.

Most of the lodging and another amenities are on the west side of the divide.

But while many visitors made the longer drive, there was still a lot of traffic at the west entrance to Glacier as well. The west entrance saw about 347,500 visitors in August, compared to 307,600 last year.

That’s a 13% increase.

With pleasant weather in September, park visitation will likely continue its upward trend this year. The first week of October is also expected to be warm and dry, with highs in the 60s. Weather, especially in the fall, is very much a driving factor to visitation in Glacier as snow becomes increasingly common, particularly in higher elevations.

The alpine section of the Sun Road will close the third Sunday in October at midnight (Oct. 20 this year) unless snow closes it earlier.

The alpine section is generally defined as being from Avalanche Creek to Jackson Glacier Overlook, though snow often closes it down to Rising Sun on the east side and sometimes at the foot of St. Mary Lake depending on the severity of the storm.

Secondary roads also close in October depending on the weather. 

People can still generally hike and ski closed roads, though there are restrictions on bicycles once snow sets in.