Glacier Park reopens with limited access

Daniel Carlson and his family sat in their motorhome at the west entrance to Glacier National Park Monday morning. They were the first visitors, aside from a few who decided to go around the gate, to enter the park in its reopening after being closed since March 27 due to concerns about spreading the novel coronavirus.

“We’re hitting a bunch of national parks,” Carlson, who hails from Pennsylvania, said.

Park staff lifted the barriers at 7:30 a.m. and opened the Going-to-the-Sun Road by 8 a.m. to Lake McDonald Lodge.

Crowds were very light — a driving rain was falling, making hiking, biking and any sort of scenery watching sort of miserable.

Carlson said they bought a pass that allows entrance into all national parks, but he said most weren’t charging at this point. Glacier is waiving fees initially as well.

Staff were at the entrance to answer questions and guide traffic. Park spokeswoman Gina Kerzman said visitors can buy passes online through the recreation.gov website. The entrance stations will eventually require people to pay, Kerzman said.

Right now, the park is open only until 4:30 p.m. The park will not sweep trails and force people to leave, it’s just that it won’t let more people in, Kerzman explained. She said the 4:30 p.m. closure is a staffing issue — they still have seasonal rangers that are in quarantine status before they can start work. As seasonal staff come off quarantine, the park will expand services on the west side.

Camas Road will not be open this week because the road will get pavement sealing and other work. The sealing is part of the ongoing effort to seal all the paved roads in the park. The Polebridge entrance to the park will not be open.

Going-to-the-Sun Road will be open up to Lake McDonald Lodge and people can hike and bike beyond that.

Backcountry camping will not be available initially, though it should be available on or around June 20, according to the park’s website.

The east side of the park will remain closed until the Blackfeet Tribe lifts its travel ban. The Blackfeet still have a travel restriction in place until June 30 and the park has deferred to the tribe and its health concerns by closing east side roads, trails and campgrounds.

Trails accessible from U.S. 2, like those at Walton and the Autumn Creek Trail at Marias Pass, will be open.

But the same 4:30 p.m. closure is in effect. Visitors should keep in mind that bathrooms at Walton may not be open. Bathrooms at Marias Pass are outside the park.

`Trails at Marias Pass will be posted that hikers should not exit east of the divide.

The park has canceled campground reservations at the Many Glacier campground due to the lack of staffing. The Fish Creek Campground and the group sites at Apgar Campground have been canceled through June 25. Reservations at the St. Mary Campground have been canceled through June 30 to align with the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council’s proclamation against non-essential travel. The Apgar campground might not open at all this summer due to staffing issues.

Glacier is also dealing with impacts from a thunderstorm on May 31. The park was without power for three days, Kerzman said. It also had numerous trees down.

Trail crews have been working during the closure. Trails around Apgar look to have been cleared. Still, visitors should expect plenty of mud and some low-level trails are currently flooded due to heavy rain.

Plows are making progress on the Sun Road. Crews are beyond Rimrocks, which is about a mile below Logan Pass.