Glacier National Park Surpasses 3.1M Visitors Through November
New year-to-date data shows 3,115,195 people visited the park during the first 11 months of 2025, which signals a 2.4% drop in visitation compared to the same period last year
By Tristan Scott
Glacier National Park ushered 3,115,195 people through its entrances in the 11-month period through November, according to new visitation data, representing a 2.4% dip compared to the same time period last year, when the park topped the 3.2-million mark (3,211,813) for only the second time.
Park officials clocked 27,967 visitors last month, signaling an increase of 26% compared to November 2024 but falling short of last year’s year-to-date mark of 3,191,836 through November. By the time year-end visitation figures were complete for 2024, the park had surpassed the 3.2-million mark (3,211,813) for only the second time in Glacier’s 115-year history, representing a 9.4% increase over 2023 (2,936,260).
Although Glacier is unlikely to clear that high mark this year, the relatively robust volume of visitors in 2025 is further confirmation that topping 3 million visitors is the new normal.
The release of visitor-tracking data was delayed this year due to the effects of the government shutdown, which spanned 43 days and included all of October. Although Glacier Park remained open during the shutdown, its staff was furloughed and services retrenched, which likely impacted visitation. The 127,537 visitors to Glacier in October represented a nearly 23% drop compared to the same month last year, when 165,018 people visited the park.
Over the past two decades, annual visitation at Glacier National Park has increased from approximately 1.5 million to over 3 million visitors, most of them concentrated along the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor and other front-country destinations during the peak season of June through September, creating severe congestion at the park’s most popular entrances.
The park’s management team has been working to distribute motorists more evenly across Glacier’s entry points to ease congestion during the height of summer, a goal they’ve accomplished with varying degrees of success by launching a vehicle reservation requirement. The evolving pilot program completed its fifth consecutive season in 2025.
But even though administrators previously said they believe they’d homed in on “a sweet spot” after years of trial and error, and were on pace to complete a Visitor Use Management Plan in 2026 while finalizing the vehicle-reservation system’s final implementation in time for the 2027 visitor season, recent reports suggest they are considering shelving the program next summer.
Although park officials still have not provided details about the divisive program’s fate next summer, reports of its suspension spread quickly earlier this month, prompting an outpouring of social media posts.
“Ending the rationing of access to Glacier National Park via vehicle reservation system is a great thing for locals and anyone who wants to visit the park,” according to a social media post from U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., a sharp critic of the program. “This will increase access, letting visitors drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road with more flexibility, and will bring much needed improvements to the shuttle system. More Montanans and travelers will now have the freedom to enjoy Glacier’s beauty without restrictive reservations, which will also benefit the gateway businesses that rely on tourism for their livelihood.”
First reported by the Daily Inter Lake, the news that Glacier was suspending its reservation system in 2026 apparently slipped out in early December during a presentation by Glacier Park Superintendent Dave Roemer to the Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce. According to the Inter Lake’s report, Roemer told attendees of the chamber meeting that the system had succeeded in reducing peak midday congestion, but had also created unintended consequences, including surges of visitor traffic during early-morning hours before the reservation requirement went into effect, endangering wildlife.
“We don’t think that people driving in the dark to get to Logan [Pass] is good for the park or good for the visitor,” Roemer said at the Dec. 9 meeting, according to the Inter Lake. “There’s wildlife on the road in those hours, and we don’t feel that you should have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to enjoy your day in the park.”
However, a park spokesperson did not confirm whether the park was suspending its reservation requirement next year, writing in an email that “we will update the public once a decision for the 2026 season has been made.”
Park officials previously said that a 2026 summer pilot system was all but certain. However, the past year has delivered numerous administrative challenges as the Trump administration worked to reduce the federal workforce, creating a climate of uncertainty throughout the National Park Service.
“The National Park Service continuously reviews Glacier National Park’s pilot operation programs to determine adjustments for the following year,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to the Beacon. “Visitor use data, gate counts, congestion monitoring, traffic operations, and feedback from the public and gateway communities help inform strategies the park uses to manage congestion, shuttles, parking, and visitor access.”