On Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend, we approached the entrance to the park from West Glacier and cars were already backed up about 30 deep jockeying for the fastest lane through the gate. It was, after all, the unofficial end of summer and tourists and locals alike clamored to squeeze in a final trip to the Crown Jewel of the Continent before the weather began to change.
Glacier National Park has a popularity problem.
The number of people visiting Glacier this year is actually about the same as the previous, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. In 2016, the park attracted about 3 million visitors, or roughly 1 million more than it had a decade earlier. At the time, the increase was partially attributed to the National Park Service’s centennial year. Except people kept showing up.
Visitation surpassed 3 million in 2017, nearly reached that mark last year and is on pace to end this year close to that number. Apparently that spike in visitation wasn’t a spike at all. Instead, the new normal at Glacier is welcoming about 30 percent more visitors than it did just a decade ago. And it has to figure out how to fit everyone in.
Many of those visitors are heading to the same place, the narrow 50-mile Going-to-the-Sun Road, which winds its way from West Glacier to St. Mary. During peak season in July and August, it’s nearly impossible to find parking if you don’t head into Glacier at dawn and, even then, you may strike out. Inevitably, more cars lead to more accidents. The Sun Road was shut down for hours on multiple occasions this summer because of crashes.
There are no easy answers for park officials wanting to welcome everyone while maintaining a quality visitor experience. Those same officials recently released the long-awaited Sun Road Management Plan that could forever change how we visit Glacier.
Some of the suggestions, such as expanding the widely popular shuttle system and adding parking spots, locals might not notice. But others could change how we access Glacier, including a proposal to “implement a timed entry parking permit system to manage congestion” and, if that doesn’t work, “consider a reservation system for the entire (Sun Road) corridor.”
In that case, heading to Glacier on a whim, at least during the summer, will be more difficult. On some weekends, I simply survey the webcams for weather conditions over a morning cup of coffee before deciding to head to the park. That may no longer be possible.
The other big change is a consideration to “implement a timed-entry permit system for hiking … to manage use levels” at some of its most popular trails, including Highline and Gunsight.
On that recent Labor Day trip to the park, it was clear something had to give. The park no longer has the infrastructure to support the number visitors entering its gates. And the result, the report says, is more people complaining about the crowding and congestion and fewer finding solitude in one of the country’s wildest places. Whether all, or some, of the various proposals in the Sun Road management plan are implemented will be decided after a public comment period, which is underway.
The goal should be to preserve what is at once a sensitive ecosystem and economic engine for the region. Locals may not like some of the steps park managers are proposing to alleviate crowds, but the alternative of maintaining the status quo is no longer an option.