Glacier National Park Vehicle Reservations

[ajg617]

For those going to or planning a trip to GNP and not staying inside the park, the vehicle registration process is brutal. Don't miss the four month window if you know your schedule. If not, they open up 250 or less reservations for GTSR (I think it was under 200 for the other three) at 8am 24 hours in advance every day. You can only get a one day reservation for Many Glacier, Two Medicine, North Fork but a 3 day reservation for GTSR. They were gone within 15 minutes and you have to complete each transaction separately - you can't have multiples in your cart.

I was logged on to reservations.gov before 8am MDT and the reservations were not released on time. By the time I was able to pick a ticket, I received a pop-up saying too much web traffic - can't process and this happened twice. Hint- reload the page before trying again - that worked for me and was able to get a Many Glacier ticket and then go back and get a GTSR ticket. Once you go to your cart, you have a 15 minute timer to complete purchase so have your payment method handy. As a backup, I booked two cruises and a RedBus tour which automatically gets you a vehicle reservation for the day.

Save your reservation with QR code onto your phone - there is no cell service on the east side and I was able to just show them the QR code on the phone which I saved as a PDF. This is important because I did NOT get an email for the GTSR reservation from reservation.gov - only got one for Many Glacier. Reservations.gov is not perfect.

 

[Soundsailor]

Wow, sounds like a process. I suppose this is what we've come to with way more folks wanting to access our parks than there is infrastructure to support. Maybe one day we'll be able to make more of an investment so everyone can enjoy these national treasures.

 

[robmcqueen]

We will be there on Sept 25th. for the week. You do not need reservation after Sept. 10th to enter the park. We are staying at the KOA in West Glacier. Where are you staying ?

 

[ajg617]

We will be there on Sept 25th. for the week. You do not need reservation after Sept. 10th to enter the park. We are staying at the KOA in West Glacier. Where are you staying ?

We are staying at West Glacier RV park starting tomorrow. I should also have mentioned that you don't need a vehicle reservation before 6am or after 3pm.

 

[ajg617]

Wow, sounds like a process. I suppose this is what we've come to with way more folks wanting to access our parks than there is infrastructure to support. Maybe one day we'll be able to make more of an investment so everyone can enjoy these national treasures.

We found it interesting that the roads on the eastern side of the park were not over-crowded - Logan Pass parking lot was reportedly full all day. There is road construction on the western side. Part of the Many Glacier access road remains unpaved and very rough with at least one temporary wash-out repair that leaves a lot to be desired but that portion of the road is not federal property. There seems to be diverse opinions on creating additional infrastructure (most of which dates back to the Great Northern Railway) vice ecological impact.

 

[Soundsailor]

There seems to be diverse opinions on creating additional infrastructure (most of which dates back to the Great Northern Railway) vice ecological impact.

Another option would be congestion pricing, many cities have found this to be an effective way of managing access demand. It could possibly also be a way to raise a bit of revenue to support park operations.

 

[Chaps2018]

Curious, did you take the shuttle at all from the west side?

I’ve read GTSR is quite tenuous with a dually.

 

[WhittleBurner]

Curious, did you take the shuttle at all from the west side?

I’ve read GTSR is quite tenuous with a dually.

We took it with our SRW 1 ton and had to put the mirrors in. Hardly enough room for that! No way would I try it with a dually. But I'm a chicken when it comes to squeezing close with the truck.

We were also about ft and a half past the length limit for the road

 

[ajg617]

We have a red bus tour for tomorrow if we can still make it. My SRW long bed is 2" over max and mirrors extended put me over on width. Besides, I want to enjoy the views vice watching the road.

Also, 9 miles of road construction on the west side of GTSR and I've heard a lot of complaints. We have not gotten into the park yet from the west yet.

Side note, all of GNP is under a red flag warning until 12am Saturday - at least current estimate.

 

[secjcc]

You can go in after 3:00 and before 6(I think) without registering. Also the GTTSR is very tight in places, we did see a person with a full size truck pulling a 30’(guessing) Imagine TT on that road heading west just pass Logan pass( DO NOT TRY THIS) I never heard how much of his trailer made it.
Pure stupidity.
If you’re on here HOW AND WHY?

 

[ajg617]

We took the Sun Tours bus today - Owned and run by the Blackfeet. Great commentary. Took them 31 years to get permission from Congress to compete against the Red Bus. A bit more than the Red Bus, but the Native American perspective was very interesting and our guide (Lester) had a great sense of humor. We did pass a dually going the other way, had a car pass us on a solid line curve, and another TV whose driver mirror wouldn't fold in - it was close. Amazing scenery and every parking lot was full except for the bus spaces.

 

[Cyclone Tom]

We will be there on Sept 25th. for the week. You do not need reservation after Sept. 10th to enter the park. We are staying at the KOA in West Glacier. Where are you staying ?

If you haven’t stayed at the West Glacier KOA before you are in for a massive treat - it is one of the nicest campgrounds I have ever been to, simply phenomenal! Enjoy your time there!

 

[dadelberg]

Another option is to book a”tour” in the park and they we give you an entrance pass. There are boat tours and bus but you can also book a paddle board for entrance pass and not use the paddle board.

 

[Retiree19]

Not easy but doable

I was there in July and experienced something of the same thing. I had looked ahead of time and got the reservation while we were still in Bozeman. No issues with the website. I just set a calendar alarm a little before 8 the day before and got the pass no problem. We're used to this from RMNP.

I also checked the GNP website and saw the 8' width limitation ahead of time. I assumed it was there for a reason, so I rented a Jeep Cherokee for the day. Boy was I glad I did. The Cherokee is about half the size of my pickup and even then it seemed like there wasn't enough road at times. Can't believe someone pulled a trailer up that road. BTW, we got the Cherokee from Wendy O., a Turo affiliate. Her place is right by the airport so very convenient to the park entrance.


We stayed at Spruce Park on the River right outside Kalispell. It's a lovely park with a lot of frontage on the Flathead River. Our only gripe was a tiny, tiny space. I'm not sure why they set this space up this way when they built the park. My guess is it was tree related. Also not sure why they gave me such a tiny space when I reserved back in February.

For those going to or planning a trip to GNP and not staying inside the park, the vehicle registration process is brutal. Don't miss the four month window if you know your schedule. If not, they open up 250 or less reservations for GTSR (I think it was under 200 for the other three) at 8am 24 hours in advance every day. You can only get a one day reservation for Many Glacier, Two Medicine, North Fork but a 3 day reservation for GTSR. They were gone within 15 minutes and you have to complete each transaction separately - you can't have multiples in your cart.

I was logged on to reservations.gov before 8am MDT and the reservations were not released on time. By the time I was able to pick a ticket, I received a pop-up saying too much web traffic - can't process and this happened twice. Hint- reload the page before trying again - that worked for me and was able to get a Many Glacier ticket and then go back and get a GTSR ticket. Once you go to your cart, you have a 15 minute timer to complete purchase so have your payment method handy. As a backup, I booked two cruises and a RedBus tour which automatically gets you a vehicle reservation for the day.

Save your reservation with QR code onto your phone - there is no cell service on the east side and I was able to just show them the QR code on the phone which I saved as a PDF. This is important because I did NOT get an email for the GTSR reservation from reservation.gov - only got one for Many Glacier. Reservations.gov is not perfect.