A successful visit to Glacier National Park this summer will require some planning ahead of time through the website Recreation dot gov due to the massive increase in visitors this year.

KGVO spoke to Public Information Officer Gena Kerzman on Friday.

“The ticket entry reservation will give you the date for when your reservation is good for and they are good for seven days,” said Kerzman. “And it doesn't matter which of those seven days you use your ticket. But once the seven days have passed, then the ticket is no longer valid. It is for whenever you make your reservation. So, say you went on (recreation.gov) this morning and you got a reservation for today. Your ticket would be good for today and a total of seven days.”

Many have attempted to avoid the ticket system for the Going to the Sun road by coming before the official start or after five pm. Kerzman comments.

“When you come to the west or St. Mary entrance, have your ticket ready and out along with your ID so that you can show the Rangers as you're entering into the park, and that will help speed things up. The other thing is, is if you want to come after five if you don't have a reservation, if you could hold off and not come until 5:30 or six, that will help you with the wait time the line won't be as long and we'll be moving much quicker at six o'clock.”

Having reservations for whatever activity you want to enjoy at Glacier Park will save a great deal of time and frustration.

“A reservation for ticket of entry is a day use ticket which means you are expected to leave the park sometime in the evening, so if you want to spend the night in the park, you can only camp in designated camping areas, and you do need to either have a reservation for that on recreation.gov, or if you're lucky enough to snag one of the first come-first serve spots. Then you can get a reservation that way as well, but camping at Glacier National Park is in designated areas only.”

Kerzman said having a reservation before you travel to the park is vital, because many of the reservations cannot be made when you get there.

“There is a normal entrance pass fee which is $35 per vehicle or you may have another pass like a yearly pass for Glacier or a senior pass or an inter-governmental pass,” she said. “Whatever pass you may have, those will get you in for your vehicle entrance pass the $35 fee. You can pay that entrance fee in advance or you can pay it once you get to the park. But your ticket entry reservation for Going to the Sun road has to be purchased in advance on recreation.gov and those are not available at the park.”

In addition, due to COVID 19 protocols, anyone using public transportation at the park must wear a mask.

 

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