Joanna Rusk has been waiting to get back to Glacier National Park since 1996. The Brooklyn, New York resident had visited the park twice in her life and earlier this year started planning a return trip to Montana to share the experience with her family. Rusk and her husband kept a close eye on the weather in the days before their trip, hoping for a sunny and warm week in Glacier.
They got their sunny and warm week, and a whole lot of wildfire smoke to go with it, too.
Rusk is one of the many visitors to Glacier National Park who have had their plans changed by closures and smoke thanks to a number of nearby wildfires. As of last week, nearly 100,000 acres were closed in Glacier due to fire, along with 141.8 miles of trail and 47 miles of road. This summer is the third time in four years that the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road has been closed for a significant amount of time because of wildfire.
“It forces you to adjust your plans, but things happen,” said Rusk, adding that their altered vacation is nothing compared to the experiences of people who lost their homes or firefighters doing the dangerous work of battling blazes.
Prior to the Howe Ridge Fire starting on Aug. 11, the Logan Pass parking lot was frequently filling between 8 and 9 a.m. After the fire exploded on Aug. 12, forcing the closure of the Sun Road between Apgar and Logan Pass, the parking lot doesn’t usually fill until late morning, if at all. Park spokesperson Lauren Alley said while fires have likely depressed visitation overall — although it will be hard to know until the August visitation numbers come out next month — it has actually increased traffic in some areas as visitors have fewer places to go. Two Medicine and Many Glacier have become especially busy in recent weeks as visitors look for places outside of the smoke-choked west side of the park.
Phyllis Jackson, owner of School House Gifts in the Apgar Village, said August is always a little slower when compared to June and July, but the last few weeks have been especially tough.
“People are not hanging around Apgar if they can’t see the lake,” she said. “Once the fires hit, there’s always a big drop in business.”
The ripple effects of Glacier’s fire extend beyond the park as well. Dylan Boyle, executive director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he has fielded numerous calls from visitors asking if they should cancel their visit. Boyle tells them that while the fires are impacting part of the park, there are still other things to do in Northwest Montana and that conditions can change daily and even hourly. However, he has heard from a number of hotels that people are canceling their reservations well into the fall.
“These fires could impact us for the next month or so,” he said.