hawksbill

I live on the East Coast of the USA, and I just realized that I'll be in Seattle on business until June 9, 2011. It occurred to me that this might be the perfect opportunity to extend my trip out West, and take that trip to Glacier National Park that I've been wanting to do for a while. I also want to make a return visit to Yellowstone, so I figured I might tack that on to the end.

I've never been to Glacier before. My first thought was that arriving on June 10 might put me right in a nice "shoulder season" when the crowds aren't too bad yet. However, I then did some research, and discovered that the higher-elevation trails don't open until July. I also discovered that the National Park Service lists the "Earliest date for entire [Going-to-the-] Sun Road spring opening across Logan Pass, weather permitting" as June 17.

So... should I do it? On June 10, will the rest of the Going-to-the-Sun Road be open, other than Logan Pass? If so, what will be the impact on my trip if the Pass is closed?

I realize I could probably find the answers to all my trip planning questions if I scanned through a bunch more old forum posts, but I've reached the point where I may just stop planning the whole trip if June is too early in the season. If that's the case, I'll probably plan a dedicated trip out West for the following September. I'd love it if the Glacier experts out there could accelerate my progress to the decision point!

happytrailstoyou

Without addressing your specific questions, I urge you to include the Many Glaciers area of the park on your itinerary and that you seriously consider spending time at Waterton Lakes Park, just across the border in Alberta.

Ackislander

Well, unfortunately, both June _and_ September might find the passes closed.

starrs

The perfect time to go. June 10th may be too early for the GTTS road to be open all the way, but you can easily do both 1/2s that are open when you are there. (Skirt around the south side on Hwy 2 to get to the other side). The road was late in opening this year and we were lucky enough to be on one of the first red buses that got over the pass. It sounds silly but it WAS a thrill to be one of the first to get to the top.
Glacier is gorgeous. Fit it in!

Digbydog

We visited Glacier in mid-June several years ago. Although the GTTS road was open, many trails were closed because of snow. Also, the park was fogged in, and we had drizzle during our entire week long visit. I subsequently found out that June is a rainy month. I feel like we never really saw the park, and it is a place that I definitely want to return to. Only next time, I will visit in July or August.

Having said all that, I would still risk it if you will be in the area. It is gorgeous!

hawksbill

Thanks for the responses! I'll be sure to include the Many Glacier area, whenever I go.

For those who are interested, here is a description of the construction project on GTSR this summer: http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisi...2010topten.pdf

Here is the schedule for the next four years: http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisi...-%202-4-10.pdf

It does actually seem that going in June before Logan Pass opens would mean that (weather permitting) I could drive on all of GTSR road except Logan Pass without any other construction delays, which could be nice. I got stuck in the construction traffic jam between Norris and Madison at Yellowstone last month, and it was awful. Although, despite all the warnings, the construction on the Zion-Mount Carmel highway turned out to be not such a big deal.

My other considerations are that, if I postpone the trip until September 2011, I'd probably have time to drive up to Banff too. And, of course, more hiking trails would be open in September than in June. I'll need to research that part a little more, because I haven't yet figured out which trails are more likely to be closed. NPS has some nice interactive trail maps here: http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisi...gthetrails.htm but they don't really seem to answer my question.

longhorn55

We visited GNP last year around the 3rd week in June. The GTTS road was not fully open at the beginning of the week, so we drove from West Glacier to where the road closure began at the Weeping Wall. There was parking there and we were able to get out and walk on the GTTS road, spend lots of time enjoying the scenery and even play a bit in the snow. That's something we could not have done if the road had been open! Later, we drove on Highway 2 around to the eastern side of the park and drove the GTTS road from that side to Logan Pass.
Although the higher elevation trails were closed, we found more than enough trails open to keep us hiking for a week. In fact, one of our favorite hikes was to the Hidden Lake Overlook which is normally a boardwalk, but because the boardwalk was covered in a couple feet of snow, everyone was hiking on the snow--fabulous! Every trail we hiked was scenic, so I don't think your hiking experience will be diminished much if you can't get to some of those higher elevation trails.

hawksbill

Longhorn55, I believe you have just about sold me. One thing though: I have no problem hiking through a few inches of snow, but I don't own snowshoes, or even skis for that matter. Will I still be able to enjoy hiking?

spirobulldog

I say go both months, if possible.

longhorn55

Hawksbill, I was really surprised about how easy it was to hike on the snow-covered trail to Hidden Lake Overlook in just our hiking boots. Enough people had already hiked that way that there was a good path to walk on. (BTW, the only way I could tell there was that much snow on the trail was because I saw a sign at the beginning of the trail whose top should have been about 3 feet high off the ground and I could only see the top foot of it.
We hiked this trail because one of the rangers at Logan Pass recommended it to us. They obviously knew that it could be hiked without use of snowshoes. You will definitely want to check with the rangers about your hikes because they will be able to tell you which trails are closed and what the conditions are on the ones that are open.
As I said, we found plenty of trails to hike and all of them (besides Hidden Lake Overlook) were clear, except for a rare patch of snow here and there on some of them. It's hard to predict what you will encounter next year by going earlier than we did, but I would expect that you could find plenty of places for good hiking, whether it be near Apgar, Logan Pass, Many Glacier, Two Medicine or Bowman Lake(all areas we hiked).
Whether you go June or September, I know you'll have a fantastic trip. Glacier was spectacular!

hawksbill

Wow. I would have thought that hiking in the mountains on three feet of snow, without snowshoes, crampons, or an ice axe would be a recipe for breaking a leg, or sliding off a five hundred foot cliff, or other such misadventure. I guess that's not necessarily true.

Okay, I'm scheduling the trip. I'll be sure to check with the rangers to know where I can safely drag my weekend warrior self around without any undue risk. Somewhere online I read about these bead-like things that you can stretch over your boots to get added traction in snow. Maybe I'll see about picking some up as my only gesture to the weather.

claire_bluesky

Yay for you! We took a trip to GNP beginning the week of June 10, 2006. We had a wonderful time. The GTTSR was mostly open. The alternate route to other parts of the park is lovely too. We stayed on the east side of the park very close to the entrance to the GTTSR, about an hour from Waterton Lakes NP, and about 1 1/2 hrs. to the west side of the park. We found it to be a good base location although many people like to move around.

Some days were very cold, a couple were in the 70's and in-between - days starting out cold and warming up. We had a couple of days of rain. One of the rainy days, we drove to the west side, and it was warm and sunny. We rented a boat at Lake McDonald and also took a heli-tour that day. It was still rainy when we got back to our cabin so we asked if it had rained all day and it had. Remember your layers!

hawksbill

Sounds great! I'm excitedly planning my trip now. And in doing so, I think I've actually stumbled upon a way to go to Yellowstone before Glacier, rather than after. If I do that, I'd arrive at Glacier almost a week later, right around the weekend when GTTSR is scheduled to open. Anyway, I'll bring plenty of layers, and be prepared to be flexible with my plans.