I returned to Glacier this past Aug-Sept. for the first time in 30+ years. The past trip was one of the most memorable Nat’l Park visits ever. This one also make the list, but for completely different reasons. The park is overrun. Traffic is horrendous. Road to the Sun was partially closed. And the fools are building multiple new hotels.

Many of the parks are now requiring advanced reservations just to visit. You need a reservation to drive Trail Ridge at Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park.

Hope the park service gets the system under control.

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Posted by TigerSaintInDallas

Denver

Member since Sep 2012

653 posts

Posted on 1/22/21 at 9:03 am to tigernnola

The national parks are super crowded now. Ever since social media came out they’ve broken visitation records every year. To really experience solitude in nature nowadays, you really need to go out into the lesser known national forests, state parks, wilderness areas, etc. Thankfully, there’s still an abundance of that sort of land all over the US

TBF, the reservation system this year was due to covid. It hadn’t been like that prior to 2020

This post was edited on 1/22/21 at 9:07 am

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Posted by Funky Tide 8

Tittleman's Crest

Member since Feb 2009

52632 posts

Posted on 1/22/21 at 12:23 pm to TigerSaintInDallas

We went to Glacier and Yellowstone last year in late September, and early October, and there were plenty of people there, but I wouldn't consider it "crowded."

The only place that was Disney World-ish was Old Faithful, and maybe Logan Pass/Hidden Lake. But both of those parks are big, and there is plenty of space to get away from crowds. I'm sure that both are much more crowded in the summer months.

This post was edited on 1/22/21 at 12:25 pm

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Posted by RaginCajunz

Member since Mar 2009

5310 posts

Posted on 1/22/21 at 3:27 pm to djrunner

We went in June of 2019 and the middle half of Going To The Sun Road was closed. We were able to make it the Trail of Cedars parking area from the Apgar side. We had time so we took the long trek around to Browning and up to St. Mary. We were able to go about a third of the way up GTTSR from that side.

We missed out on what is most likely the best part of the park, but it was still absolutely stunning and awe inspiring.

We stayed at Apgar in the park, but the drive to civilization was not terribly far.

This was the view from my hotel room.