Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

A place to talk about Glacier in general, if you have something that is political, please post it in the "Politics" section of the chat system.

Moderators: teapot57, Tara

Post Reply
User avatar
sbosecker
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:23 am
Please add the numbers(11): 0
Location: Peachtree City GA
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

Post by sbosecker »

This morning I noticed that some, but not all, of the backcountry campsites appear to be "open" again after being shut down due to the Hay Creek Fire.

Adair is still closed.
Boulder is still closed.
Grace Lake is still closed.
Hole in the Wall is still closed.
Upper Kintla is still closed.

Akokala Lake is now open
Bowman Lake is now open
Logging Lake is now open
Lower Quartz is now open
Quartz Lake is now open
Round Prairie is now open

Trying to figure out the pattern here... the campsites that would seem to be closest to the Hay Creek Fire appear to be open but the ones farther away are still closed. I guess they think the could evacuate the closest campsites (if things change) but don't think it prudent to open up the ones farther away?

I didn't see anything on the Glacier NP website that mentioned this.

Scott
User avatar
sbosecker
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:23 am
Please add the numbers(11): 0
Location: Peachtree City GA
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

Post by sbosecker »

I've tried to call the Backcountry Office at Apgar a couple of times today and not gotten an answer. I'll try again later today but...

Does anyone know whether the sites I mentioned in the previous post are REALLY open or is this a glitch and they are not being used due to the fire?

I just went to pay.gov and was playing around with an itinerary. When I put Bowman Lake Campsite into the Backcountry Reservation Form, I got a Popup Message that read, "Campsite is closed for the season" or something to that effect. This despite the "What's availabe tonight" webpage showing Bowman Lake open.

The Glacier Trail & Area Closings & Postings, last updated August 10th, note that:
All campgrounds from Logging drainage north to continental divide - wildfire
Goat Haunt Shelters - closed for the season

Puzzled by the "What's available tonight" Page showing different information.

Scott
orin
Posts: 466
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 11:02 pm
Please add the numbers(11): 0
Location: Seattle
Has thanked: 36 times
Been thanked: 45 times

Re: Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

Post by orin »

The backcountry office has the most up to date info so keep trying them. However, in my experience the "What is available tonight" web page is the most up to date source of information. It is updated regularly during the day because it uses the data base from which the backcountry office assigns permits. I have shown up at the office on numerous occasions to get a walk-in permit based on the availability it shows and have never had a problem. I would not put too much stock in the accuracy of pay.gov.
User avatar
sbosecker
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:23 am
Please add the numbers(11): 0
Location: Peachtree City GA
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

Post by sbosecker »

Managed to get through and spoke with Ranger Julie.

Regarding the backcountry campsites that had been reopened, Julie indicated that the rain and cooler weather had made the folks that make these decisions comfortable with reopening the campsites that had recently been reopened. The philosophy on which sites to open appears to have been as I speculated: If the Hay Creek Fire started blowing up those sites could be evacuated easier than the ones further into the park.

Ranger Julie indicated that this decision will be revisited in the next few days as to whether or not to reclose. So evertything could be closed again, it could stay the same as it is now or, I suppose, it could get better (more sites are opened).

I must stress that Ranger Julie did not mention that 3rd option - only the first two. I'm just assuming that if decisions are being made in a few days, anything may be possible regarding the campsites in the northwest part of the park.

However, the pay.gov site had been loaded with the same information as was listed on the The Glacier Trail & Area Closings & Postings Page.
That is, that all campgrounds from Logging drainage north to continental divide were closed for the season.

Ranger Julie took the lock off of the Pay.gov campsites allowing me to put in for an itinerary that had recently become available during the time I plan to visit (first few days of September). BOW - BRO - BOU - BOW.

This was awarded to me this morning. I will be canceling my previous itinerary LOF - ADA - GRA - LOF in a few minutes.

Granted BOU is still closed and may continue to be closed the rest of the season. However, at the moment, ADA & GRA are closed also and may suffer the same fate. I spent $40 for the potential to visit (again) what I believe is a more scenic area of the park.

We'll see what happens.

Scott
zozeppelin
Special Contributor
Special Contributor
Posts: 426
Joined: Sat Apr 06, 2019 5:53 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Has thanked: 96 times
Been thanked: 56 times

Re: Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

Post by zozeppelin »

Awesome Scott, glad the persistence paid off! That is a great itinerary (upgrade BRO to HOL on arrival if you can).

If sites do stay closed, others may open in Belly River as people abandon Northern Traverse or PNW trail itineraries.
User avatar
sbosecker
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:23 am
Please add the numbers(11): 0
Location: Peachtree City GA
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

Post by sbosecker »

zozeppelin wrote: Sat Aug 14, 2021 9:36 pm Awesome Scott, glad the persistence paid off! That is a great itinerary (upgrade BRO to HOL on arrival if you can).

If sites do stay closed, others may open in Belly River as people abandon Northern Traverse or PNW trail itineraries.
zozeppelin,

Since my hiking buddy and I did BOW - HOL - BOU - KIN in 2019 and I missed visiting the park in 2020 for the frist time since 2002, the Belly River would be my preference for this trip but it just hasn't worked out so far.

Yes, from what I hear, Hole-In-The-Wall would be a pretty big upgrade from Brown Pass campsite. I've not stayed at Brown Pass but I've been at Hole-In-The-Wall a few times. HOL is magnificent!

Doing roughly the same trip as 2019 wouldn't be the worst thing that ever happened to me (Ha!) but I would like to show my friend the Mokowanis Cascades and perhaps even go all the way to Stoney Indian Pass before coming back the way we came in (Chief MT). In a perfect world, GAB - GLH - GLH - GAB would be what I would like to get. We could make a little side trip to MOL on Day 2 and then spend day 3 dayhiking as far towards Stoney Indian Pass as we felt like doing.

Goat Haunt being shut down for taking the tour boat to Waterton and the Tamerack Shuttle to Chief Mountian is a shame but what do you do?

A 3 or 4 night Gunsight Pass trip is another option but we won't have a second car this time around and either initially getting to the trailhead to start or getting to the trailhead at the end to retrieve the car would complicate things.

Ever since yesterday morning the Backcountry Advance Reservation page, the What's Available Tonight Page & the Trail & Area Closure Page have been offline. I like keeping an eye on things so I hope those pages come back up soon.

Best regards,

Scott
User avatar
sbosecker
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:23 am
Please add the numbers(11): 0
Location: Peachtree City GA
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: Some Northwest Backcountry Sites Open Again

Post by sbosecker »

Since the Backcountry Web Pages are still down as of this morning, I don't know for sure if anything changed regarding the backcountry campsites in the northwest part of the park.

However, according to Hay Creek Fire page of the InciWeb - Incident Information System, the Evacuation Warning for the residents around Polebridge has been lifted effective August 18th.

InciWeb LINK

Glacier NP's Hay Creek Fire Information Page is a bit vague...

"No areas in Glacier National Park are closed at this time. Bowman and Kintla Campgrounds remain open, but campers as well as day use visitors to the North Fork need to be aware of the potential for changing conditions."

Nothing mentioned about Backcountry Campsites.

Scott
Post Reply

Return to “General Glacier Discussion”