Glacier considers temporary reservation system for Sun Road

Glacier National Park is considering implementing a temporary reservation system for visitors wanting to travel the Going-to-the-Sun Road this summer.

Glacier Park Superintendent Jeff Mow plans to meet with area chamber of commerces this week via videoconference to gauge business reaction to the proposal, which will be similar to Yosemite National Park’s.

“We anticipate that we will face increased difficulty with managing congestion on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, especially since visitors will need to enter and exit the Going-to-the-Sun Road via the west entrance,” Mow said in the letter provided to the Hungry Horse News.

Tickets would be required for entry to the park at West Glacier and will be available through recreation.gov, with half being available up to 30 days in advance and the remaining tickets being released two days in advance. Tickets will allow for seven days of park entry, just as the current system. Ticketed entry will not be required for visitors traveling to the North Fork area of the park, tribal members, visitors with camping or lodging reservations, landowners and their guests, business owners, groups holding valid Commercial Use Authorizations, and those participating in park partner activities.

A private vehicle day use entry reservation is $35, and a motorcycle is $30, which includes a nonrefundable $2 reservation fee. If a visitor holds a valid Interagency Annual Pass, Glacier National Park Annual Pass or Senior Pass, they will just have to pay the $2 nonrefundable reservation fee.

The tickets reportedly would not be required for visitors before 6 a.m. or after 6 p.m. Initially, there would be about 1,200 tickets per day available, said one person familiar with the proposal, though that could be adjusted.

Half of Glacier is closed this summer due to the coronavirus crisis. The Blackfeet Tribe have closed the reservation to all non-essential travel. That means all east side entrances to the park are closed.

Normally once the Sun Road corridor fills, people typically just keep driving out of the park through either the St. Mary entrance or the west entrance.

But with the east side closure, Glacier has been extremely crowded as a result. Last Friday, a park employee told the Hungry Horse News that the west entrance had to be closed completely due to congestion. No one was allowed in.

“We acknowledge it will be challenging instituting a ticketed entry system this summer. If we implement ticketed entry as soon as the end of July, the turnaround from planning to implementation will happen over a few weeks. We also acknowledge that a ticketed entry system will not be favored by all visitors,” Mow concedes in his letter. “Since we reopened the park on June 8, visitors have expressed mixed emotions on their access to the park. Some have been pleased that any part of the park is open. Others have been more frustrated with temporary closures put in place due to congestion.”

A system could be in place by the end of this month, Mow said in his letter.