Glacier National Park Chat

I camped there for a couple of nights over Memorial day weekend a few years ago. There were no bugs yet but a moose was hanging out in the lake in the morning and evening. It makes for a nice easy early season trip from Waterton.

Any way you look at it, you have at least a couple of long days ahead of you. Hope it all works out. I'll be interested in hearing how it went.

More years ago than I care to think about I went on a couple of backpacking trips with Jeff. One was to Cosley lake. Jeff was a backcountry ranger there years ago. The second was to Gunsight Lake where we hiked to the pass and also to near the toe of the Jackson glacier. He is an interesting person ...

I don’t have much experience with requesting undesignated camps so can’t help much there. But if I had to guess I would think getting a permit for a remote valley bottom camp around Muir Creek would be a lot more likely than getting one near heavily used environmentally sensitive Cut Bank Pass. Ear ...

Looking at the availability maps, three of the most popular backcountry routes are currently closed. Dawson-Pitamakin is closed due to bears. Not just the Old Man Lake camp but the entire Dry Fork. Glad I got my trip in early in the summer while it was still open. Gunsight-Sperry is also closed alth...

Those entry and exit points are relatively new. I guess they give the NPS some additional information that could be useful if someone went missing or something like that. But in my experience you are good to go if you have the campsites you want and the software doesn't complain.

Have a great trip!

A good berry year helps with the bear problems. In late summer bears eat a lot to prepare for winter hibernation. When there are plenty of natural foods they are less troublesome around campsites.

Yeah, the last week of June I was unable to get a permit for GLH (even though I had a reservation and GLH was not officially closed) for two nights because of the tent squishing bear Jay brings up. I would guess it is probably the same animal. Hopefully it will go somewhere else but all it takes is ...

I have used a bear can many times but never in Glacier. The large one on the far left side of your picture weighs around 3 lbs. They are useful or required for places that have no hanging options like the Alaskan tundra. However, designated sites in Glacier have poles/wires/boxes and I don't want to...

Wow. Pretty exciting! I didn’t realize there was a wolf pack in that area. They have been in the North Fork for years so I guess not that far away. The Blackfeet just removed their cattle from around the Chief Mountain area so hopefully there will be less chance for conflict with the pack. I know th...

Thank you for the report. When I was there the end of June we had an evening shower followed by a beautiful sunset rainbow. Of course by the time I walked back to the room to get a camera it had faded away. Having stayed at Granite Park many times I completely agree about how sonically thin the wall...

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know the current procedure for transferring a permit? When I picked up my Belly River permit at the end of June I had to show ID that matched their records. In the past they sent out a permit notification and I would just take it with me to the office. Having it in...

I feel conflicted. I don't use one but as I get older the hardest part of backpacking has become taking a break sitting on the ground and then having to get up again. The idea of a camp chair looks better and better but the weight looks worse and worse. A lot of chairs look flimsy. Since I am a big ...

Yeah, a pretty intemperate response. Perhaps there are some reasonable accommodations that could be made but the author makes hardly any attempt to identify them. The limited backcountry resources are in high demand and I see little reason why CDT hikers have any more right to them than anyone else....