Park ready for holiday weekend
<p>McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park is visible in the early hours of May 18.</p>
Glacier National Park is prepared for a busy Memorial Day weekend, but the National Weather Service is forecasting a cool, wet weekend that may bring as much as 12 inches of snow in the park’s high country.
The Apgar and St. Mary visitor centers are open, along with most campgrounds and some lodges and businesses in the park.
Hikers and bikers can enjoy unrestricted access to Going-to-the-Sun Road beyond vehicle gates at Avalanche on the west side and at Jackson Glacier Overlook on the east side.
The Camas, Chief Mountain, Many Glacier and Two Medicine roads are open to motorized travel. The Inside North Fork Road is closed at the Logging Creek Ranger Station and at Fish Creek due to flooding and downed trees. The Cut Bank Road also is closed.
Permits are required for any overnight visits in the backcountry, and they are available at the Apgar backcountry permit office or at the St. Mary visitor center.
Lake McDonald Lodge is open and boat tours with the Glacier Park Co. are operating on Lake McDonald.
Snow plows continue to make progress on Sun Road, with the west-side crew working in the Oberlin Bend area just below Logan Pass and the east-side crew approaching the Big Drift, considered the last major obstacle in clearing the road over Logan Pass.
Park officials say the road may be open to vehicles over Logan Pass by mid- to late June. The opening, however, always hinges on weather, and there may be setbacks this weekend.
The National Weather Service put out an advisory Thursday warning of widespread showers across Western Montana by Saturday evening, with snow falling on mountain passes along the Continental Divide. By Sunday, Logan Pass could receive as much as a foot of new snow.
Visitors planning to boat on park waters are reminded that all motorized watercraft require inspection and a permit before launch.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, permits are available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at park headquarters in West Glacier and from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at other park locations, such as ranger stations and visitor centers.
Nonmotorized watercraft, such as canoes, kayaks and rowboats, require a free self-inspection permit.