Weather closes vehicle access to Glacier's Logan Pass

Glacier National Park announced late Thursday that the Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed to motor vehicles between Avalanche Creek and Jackson Glacier Overlook because of the weather.

Rain and snow has hit the park in the past 24 hours. Snowfall totals were not immediately available.

Snow at Logan Pass this time of year is not uncommon, though the weather often warms up and the snow melts and the pass reopens.

The Going-to-the-Sun Road will have a hard closure for the season on Sunday, Oct. 15 at midnight.

It will remain closed through the winter.

The weather is expected to remain cool and wet through the weekend, but could moderate by the middle of next week.

A pending government shutdown could also affect park operations on a broader scale. In past government shutdowns during Democratic presidential administrations, the National Park Service shut down most parks, including Glacier.

In the last government shutdown in January 2019, under then Republican President Donald Trump, the park remained open to visitors, but visitors took to breaking longstanding rules in the park, like walking dogs on trails that were closed and other violations, as some assumed rangers weren’t working.

Rangers were still working, however, and they did ticket a few visitors. Almost all trails in Glacier are closed to dogs, save for the bike path in Apgar and some other paths in that area.

The bike path is closed to dogs in winter, to avoid conflicts with wildlife.