Glacier Park has busiest month ever

In case it wasn’t obvious to anyone who has visited Glacier National Park last month, July 2016 was far and away Glacier’s busiest month of all time, shattering the previous record set in July 2014.

According to visitation estimates by the National Park Service, 818,481 visitors entered Glacier in July, compared with the previous single-month high of 699,650 visitors in the park’s busiest month two years ago.

Last month was characterized by picture-perfect, sunny weather and overwhelming crowds at the park’s campgrounds, trailheads and visitor centers, along with long lines of cars jamming Glacier’s scenic Going-to-the-Sun Road.

The monthly report comes on the heels of Glacier’s busiest June ever, and leaves total visitation at 1.5 million this year — 13.9 percent ahead of the annual visitation record set last year.

Park spokesman Tim Rains said the July numbers, while “astronomical,” are also consistent with the packed conditions Glacier’s staff have been noticing. Wait times for the park’s free shuttle system are commonly running two to three hours, and heavily trafficked parking lots like those at the Apgar and Logan Pass visitor centers have been filling up early, even on weekdays.

“We’ve had great weather, gas prices are low and [with] the huge ‘Find Your Park’ campaign and the centennial year, everyone wants to come visit their parks,” he said.

The park has also been notably devoid of significant wildfires so far this year, while last July was punctuated by a fast-moving blaze that began near Logan Pass, shutting down Going-to-the-Sun Road for more than a week and rapidly chewing through thousands of acres of forest east of the Continental Divide.

Even using the previous record set in July 2014, however, this year’s crowds have flooded through many of Glacier’s entrance stations en masse.

West Glacier’s entrance logged an estimated 354,660 visitors last month, a 16 percent increase from July 2014. At Polebridge, that number is up 18 percent, while St. Mary has risen 32 percent.

Every entrance to the park where visitation totals are tracked recorded higher numbers than both 2014 and 2015 — both years in which the park set annual visitation records.

The overall increase in Glacier’s popularity have been consistent in recent years, and has prompted the park to begin developing solutions to overcrowding along the well-traveled Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor.

The draft environmental impact statement of those proposed solutions has yet to be released, but Rains said the park expects to release the document this fall.

He noted that the levels of visitation last month already reflect scenarios outlined in that draft plan, which will include numeric benchmarks at which the park would implement different restrictions on visitors.

While those actions are still in the preliminary planning stage, they could include decisions such as limiting the flow of hikers to a popular trail, or implementing time limits on parking spaces.

Less restrictive responses to overcrowding would likely be undertaken first, but all of those management actions would be tied to visitor numbers.

“We’re already hitting some of the trigger points,” Rains said. “And we haven’t even put the plan out yet.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.