Sun Road reservations start Friday
Folks who want to drive up the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road past Apgar will have to have a reservation starting Friday, June 13.
Reservations this year are under a “timed entry” system. With slots available from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
If a person misses their allotted slot, they will not be allowed on the west side of the road until after 3 p.m.
There are no reservation requirements on the east side of the Sun Road at the St. Mary Entrance.
Reservations are available at 7 p.m. the night before a person needs one. For example, for Friday’s release, reservations become available June 12 at 7 p.m.
Reservation requirements run through the summer and into the fall until Sept. 28.
Reservations are available at Recreation.gov and advanced reservations were typically fairly easy to get. It remains to be seen how it will go with the day-before reservations, but reservations for later in the day were far more available the Hungry Horse News found, when the advanced reservations were released.
This is the first year of a timed entry system.
The road as of press time was closed at Avalanche Creek on the west side to vehicles.
Park spokeswoman Autumn Sifuentes said there was still work on the road to be completed, even though snow plowing is completed.
“We still have to put up guard rails, do rock clean up and sweeping, and get the water system (at Logan Pass) going,” she said.
The guardrails are removable and have to be bolted on in some sections each spring. They’re then taken down and stored on the road in the fall in places where avalanches won’t sweep them off the side of the road.
Still, the opening of the road seems imminent and mid-June is the average opening for the road over Logan Pass to vehicles.
Glacier saw a below average snowpack last winter and the weather has been unusually warm and dry for June, though Logan Pass saw snow briefly last week.
Reservations are also required in other park roads, including the North Fork. In Many Glacier, people without hotel or other reservations cannot get in without a shuttle reservation, as there is limited parking due to construction this summer in the Swiftcurrent Valley.
That project should be done next spring.
Like Sun Road reservations, Many Glacier shuttle reservations are available at Recreation.gov.
Many Glacier tickets will be available seven days in advance each morning at 8 a.m. MDT, starting on June 24, and at 7 p.m. the night before entry, starting on June 30. Tickets are limited and determined by parking capacity. Tickets cannot be purchased in person at any of Glacier National Park’s visitor centers or entrance stations.
Reservations are required starting July 1 through Sept. 21
People are not allowed to hike or bike into Many Glacier, either.
Hikers and bikers can currently use the Sun Road with varying closures depending on where road crews are working, though the closures as of late have been close to Logan Pass. Logan Pass was actually open to bikers for a short while, but then closed due to a bear at the pass. Biking and hiking are a great way to see the alpine terrain of Glacier without the traffic of vehicles.