Glacier National Park Announces New System to Reserve Wilderness Camping Permits

Backpackers eyeing wilderness routes through Glacier National Park (GNP) this summer will be able to make advance reservations online via Recreation.gov, the same system used for the Park’s vehicle reservation system.

On Feb. 23, GNP officials announced the rollout of a new digital permit process for wilderness camping reservations as a replacement to the previous lengthy lottery system that utilized Pay.gov and a unique computer application.

According to a press release, applications for wilderness reservations at the Park’s 65 backcountry campgrounds have tripled in recent years, and officials stated that park staff are no longer able to provide the required maintenance for the computer application.

Now, backpackers planning trips for 2023 will be able to reserve backcountry campsites beginning on March 15 at 8 a.m. on the Glacier National Park Wilderness Permits page of Recreation.gov. Backcountry permit fees will include a $10 reservation fee along with a $7 per person, per night, camping fee. The $10 fee will be shared between GNP and Recreation.gov, while the per person camping fees will be retained wholly by GNP. 

Permits made through the online system can only be purchased for groups of up to four campers. To accommodate larger parties, backpackers will be required to have separate permits and group leaders identified for every four campers in the party.

As an alternative way to obtain large group permits, the Park will hold a one-day application period for mid- and large-size group permits on the Pay.gov site via a lottery system. The window for large group permits will occur on March 1 starting at 12:01 a.m. Reservations will be awarded via lottery to 30 groups of 5-8 campers and 5 groups of 9-12 campers, who will be notified by park staff and will have five days to submit their payment.

If visitors planning large group backpacking trips are unable to obtain permits via the one-day lottery, they may book multiple permits through Recreation.gov.

The Park will release 70% of wilderness campsites park-wide as advance reservations, with the remaining 30% available for walkup permits the day before or day of starting a trip. Permit offices are located in Polebridge, Apgar, Two Medicine, St. Mary and Many Glacier. Visitors with advance reservation will still have to visit a permit office to pick up their permits.

A valid wilderness camping advance reservation will serve as a vehicle reservation for the day before or day of a trip starting date.

Additional changes to the system were made in response to public input GNP received regarding the wilderness reservation system. Those changes include adding a tutorial video explaining how to book reservations to the GNP wilderness camping website; fully describing the refund policy and including elevation gain from trailheads to campsites.

GNP conducted civic engagement with the public, with a comment period from Feb. 3-17. To view the planning documents, visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/WildernessCampingPermits.