This Popular Glacier National Park Road Might Soon Not Require Vehicle Reservations
Visiting the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road might get easier. The Glacier National Park has been using an entry reservation system for vehicles heading for the popular thoroughfare. Now, reports suggest the park plans to discontinue the entry system in 2026. According to the Daily Inter Lake, the national park's Superintendent, Dave Roemer, announced the elimination of the reservation system at a Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce meeting. However, the new plan has yet to receive approval from the Glacier National Park officials, and an official announcement is awaited. The reservation system was first installed in 2021 for vehicles entering through the west entrance because the traffic had become unmanageable, as per SFGATE. Too many vehicles would line up, creating long queues that would disrupt the traffic and raise safety concerns near Highway 2, which is outside of the national park.
Through the reservation system, national park visitors arriving between 7 a.m. MT and 3 p.m. MT (9 a.m. ET and 5 p.m. ET) could purchase timed-entry vehicle reservations in advance to avoid traffic and long waiting hours. Although it helped the officials navigate the traffic better, the public didn't get on board with the plan. Getting a reservation seemed difficult and too much of a hassle compared to simply driving into the national park. However, adventurous people found a shortcut solution to the problem. People began entering the national park and heading towards the Going-to-the-Sun road early in the morning to avoid reservations. They would camp outside the park, wake up before 7 a.m. MT and drive through without any reservation.
However, this solution brought up another problem. Roemer revealed that more and more people began to line up outside the park's entrance early in the morning, especially during peak summer months. “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,” the park Superintendent said at the meeting. He also expressed concern for the wildlife of the park and how they would be disturbed by the early morning visitors. “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," he added.
Although the new rule will eliminate the existing reservation system, it will have its own implementations. The Logan Pass is the park's highest parking lot and a perfect spot for people willing to hike on the Highline Trail and other well-known trails. However, the beloved spot of the national park might face some visitor restrictions under the new rule. Roemer revealed that instead of allowing reservations, the authorities will limit the time of visitation. People can't stay in the park for more than 3 hours, which would free up much more space in the usually busy parking spot throughout the day. "The public would have a reasonable chance of just arriving there and being able to park," Roemer added.
The discussions on the best way to implement the new parking restrictions are still ongoing. Roemer suggested the installation of ticketing kiosks that will automatically provide timed entry tickets to the visitors. Hikers visiting the park's trails will require a prior shuttle reservation. “We are going to change our shuttle service and really narrow the scope of what it does so they can be good at it rather than being fair to poor by trying to be an all-purpose people-mover,” the authority added.
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