Hiking 1

St. Mary Lake is among many natural treasures in Glacier National Park.

WEST GLACIER, Montana (AP) — Glacier National Park says it’s seeing more visitors showing up early in the morning and evening when the park’s new ticketed entry system is not in effect.

Glacier administrators say people who arrive at the park’s West entrance after 5 p.m. should expect heavy traffic and long waits.

The park in northwestern Montana on the Canada border had almost 300,000 visits through May. That’s the highest year-to-date number on record.

To ease congestion on the popular Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier this year began requiring visitors to obtain an entry ticket and reservation prior to arrival.

About a quarter of Memorial Day weekend visitors arrived without a reservation at the park’s West and St. Mary entrances.

Recommended for you

Welcome to the discussion!

The Idaho State Journal invites you to take part in the community conversation. But those who don't play nice may be uninvited.

Comments that are:

  • off topic
  • defamatory
  • libelous
  • obscene
  • racist
  • abusive
  • threatening
  • an invasion of privacy (doxxing)
  • profane (including attempts to misspell profanity in order to get around the profanity filter)

will be deleted. Repeat offenders will lose commenting privileges.

Comments are opinions of the author only, and do not reflect the opinions or views of Idaho State Journal.