Eastern Entrances to Glacier Will Be Closed All Summer

As Montana has gradually reopened, Glacier National Park has been doing the same. They began their reopening process on June 8th, and since then have expanded certain aspects of the park to be available, but other parts of the park are still closed down.

And with Montana currently experiencing the highest Coronavirus case numbers its seen during the pandemic, it's unclear whether Glacier will continue to operate or restrict access to certain parts of the park again. But one thing that is clear is that, according to the Blackfeet Nation leaders of Blackfeet Reservation, the eastern entrances to the park will remain closed for the rest of the summer.

Blackfeet Reservation borders the eastern park of Glacier, meaning visitors have to go through in order to access the east entrances. The closure is described as necessary to "protect residents of the reservation - where tribal citizens suffer from higher rates of existing health conditions that put them at higher risk of serious complications of COVID-19."

As case numbers continue to rise in Montana - and as Missoula votes this week on whether to make face masks mandatory in public - it'll be interesting to see if we scale back our reopening like some other states have done. Our numbers aren't as huge as states like California or Texas, but compared to what we were seeing at the beginning of the pandemic, they're definitely worse.

So if you're looking to head to Glacier, you'll have to use the western entrances this summer - and hope that it remains open long enough for you to get there.