Hiker-biker shuttle returns to Glacier National Park

A free shuttle for early-season hikers and bicyclists will be returning to Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road this weekend.

Beginning Saturday, the shuttle will run on the weekends (and Memorial Day) and will stop at the Apgar Visitor Center, Lake McDonald Lodge and Avalanche Creek once the Sun Road opens that far.

The hiker-biker shuttle will operate every 30 minutes, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Apgar Visitor Center. The last shuttle of the day will depart Avalanche Creek at 5:15 p.m. It will operate until the Going-to-the-Sun Road opens fully to vehicles.

The park introduced the shuttle last year in response to the growing popularity of biking the closed-to-vehicles portions of the scenic road in the spring.

The hiker-biker shuttle is made possible in part through donations from the Glacier National Park Conservancy. A portion of those funds came from last year’s Glacier Ride — a six-day fundraising bike ride in the park organized by Climate Ride. These funds will support shuttle operations and bicycle trailer acquisition.

This year, the park purchased one additional bike trailer, and each trailer will be able to carry up to two tandem or recumbent bicycles. Additional bike racks will also be purchased this year.

Hikers and bikers may travel as far as conditions allow on weekends when plow crews are not working. During weekdays, hiker-biker restrictions are in place to allow road crews to work safely. For updated hiker-biker restrictions, visit www.nps.gov/applications/glac/roadstatus/roadstatus.cfm.

Volunteer bike patrols will be riding the roads during core weekend hours, providing information and visitor services. The volunteers will have the ability to call for help in the event of an emergency.