Glacier Status 2020

Are you a seasoned hiker, or just starting out? Let us know your questions or experience with the backcountry permit process.

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zozeppelin
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

650 is trolling us now .... the tunnel is open.
(yes I know it's probably just in case of emergency)
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Hole in the Wall, Brown and Boulder open, probably the best loop possible this year is now open - good work guys. Also Nyack trail statuses being updated, so I assume that is imminent as well.

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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

orin wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 4:38 pm I wonder what is going on with Fifty Mountain? I was hoping it might open soon. The change from yellow to red suggests that the snow had melted and it had dried out but that something else happened. It often has bear issues. The same happened with Akokala but in that case the Closures page lists bears frequenting.
Stoney Indian now has the same. Fifty made sense to try and loop with Flattop maybe? But after Stoney there is nowhere to go.

I don't know how many are doing the CDT this year but I do hope there can be some accommodation for their last 50 miles or whatever. With Canada and Chief Mountain access closed, I think that leaves Brown/Boulder and then the Kintla cutoff trail that supposedly exists?
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by PeteE »

zozeppelin wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 8:35 pm

Hi Pete,
Really cool, appreciate the insight and thanks for sharing. I often wonder how it all works, because it appears some rangers cover a lot of ground (250 and 650), so I was curious as to whether they are the back-office people just filing the reports from the rangers doing the hiking or doing it themselves. Speaking of which, 650 has been awfully quiet after the initial good run in TM, SM and MG. Hope all is well!

I'll submit another gripe - they have Park Creek trail in winter status with no updates / projected clearings, but have both PAR and UPP open - how does that make sense.
Yesterday, Sunday the 23rd, I had a short chat with my friend Ranger 623 while he was taking a break at Logan Pass.
He explained a little bit about the number designations like his(623) and 250, 650, etc.
Designations ending in "23" are "Wilderness Rangers". The first number, in his case "6" is the Ranger District he is assigned to.
Some of the duties of the Wilderness Rangers are, 1) Walking the trails checking for hazards, etc. 2) Inspecting and cleanup of campsites,
3) Pit toilet cleanup :( and too many others to name. These "23" Rangers are very capable men and women who must be able to operate independently as well be part of a team when required...like search and rescue missions, bear management, first aid, body recovery---you name it and they do it.

Rangers with designations ending in "50" like 250 and 650 are District Trail Supervisors.
250 is Many Glacier. 650 is St Mary(I think that's what he said)
He was rattling through all the district names and number designations faster than I could remember!! :)
Some of the Districts are North Fork, Many Glacier, St Mary, Two Medicine, Nyack, Lake McDonald, Goat Haunt, etc.
The top people like 250 and 650 don't necessarily do the trail inspections and reports "personally".
Staff rangers, who do not have number designations, do a lot of the reports and then they get reported under their supervisor's number.

Combo Letter and Number designations like C1 are Law Enforcement Ranger designations.
I think I have the following correct :?
C1 is the chief LEO for the district that includes Logan Pass. (He closed the Hidden lake trail because of the bear/goat incident)
C10 would be a supervisor for an area within C1's district.

623 laughed when I told him about fighting my way down through the real estate from hell between the Highline trail and the Big Bend.
Clearly, I never found the trail that mountaineers use to get to the Highline from the Big Bend!
I'll report on that later...NOT FUN, but a great learning experience. 8)

That area is part of his responsibility for S&R. He said he has been all through that area.
He allowed that it's a very tough place to get though, full of hazards like alders :twisted: , head high brush and trees, cliffs and gullies, often choked with willows that make a lot of it nearly impassable.
My comment was, "No S**T" I found that out the hard way!
At least you didn't have to come rescue me!! 8)

pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

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And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by orin »

Fifty Mountain is now available. It has always been a very beary place. I guess they moved somewhere else. Flattop, Fifty, Granite makes for a great loop.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Hi Pete,
So cool, thanks for taking the time to inquire and share your conversation. This type of inner workings insight is really appreciated. I'm sure you did, but tell 623 thanks for what he does.

Hi Orin,
Good call on Fifty, glad to see that open. I've done KOO to HOL in one day, so FIF to BRO to connect to the other open camps should be definitely possible, but would be quite a slog (and probably not permissible given trail status but here it to hoping).

Nice to see some positive reports.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by peterspringer10 »

First off I don't mean to hijack this thread at all, but I noticed that a lot of what you've been doing with the trail status on a map is very similar to a project that I am working on (should have an interactive map with trails, sites, elevation, status, recent conditions, etc)

I am a member of a 5 student team of hikers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute working remotely on a research project to create a web-app that simplifies and streamlines the process of planning a backpacking trip in GNP. If some of you have just a few minutes to fill out our anonymous survey our group would greatly appreciate it!

http://wpi.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8c9GzTqbyRxNZcx

This is a completely anonymous, non-commercial survey for academic purposes only. Admin/moderators, I think this aligns with posting regulations but if it does not please let me know/remove. It has become difficult to gather enough data from hikers while working remotely due to COVID. If anyone has any questions please feel free to comment them here or message me or any of the contacts provided on the survey page.
zozeppelin
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

peterspringer10 wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 11:20 am First off I don't mean to hijack this thread at all, but I noticed that a lot of what you've been doing with the trail status on a map is very similar to a project that I am working on (should have an interactive map with trails, sites, elevation, status, recent conditions, etc)

I am a member of a 5 student team of hikers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute working remotely on a research project to create a web-app that simplifies and streamlines the process of planning a backpacking trip in GNP. If some of you have just a few minutes to fill out our anonymous survey our group would greatly appreciate it!

http://wpi.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8c9GzTqbyRxNZcx

This is a completely anonymous, non-commercial survey for academic purposes only. Admin/moderators, I think this aligns with posting regulations but if it does not please let me know/remove. It has become difficult to gather enough data from hikers while working remotely due to COVID. If anyone has any questions please feel free to comment them here or message me or any of the contacts provided on the survey page.
Interesting, seems similar to what I have been working on. The pictures I'm showing in here are actually from a winform application with zoom/pan/date change capability - nothing clickable yet. The real objective is to focus on itinerary building - pre-application based on constraint parameters, post-first applications processed by adding in walkin/advanced availability and ultimately create a tool that could demonstrate processing applications seeking an optimal solution (presumably maximize number of permits fullfilled but this could be adjustable). The status dumps here was a pivot due to the situation this year and trying to help people with a natural byproduct of the project I'm working on. Plan is eventually to transition the front end to ASP and have that available for users to interact with (build itineraries, see what's available for a given date, visualize trail/camp status, etc).

There are others with helpful tools in this space -
Matt's itinerary builder: http://mattb.nationalparkschat.com/
Hike 734 semi-interactive trail info map: https://hike734.com/map/
Sean's interactive campsite map with ratings/reviews: http://bcsites.herokuapp.com/bcglacier/map/
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by peterspringer10 »

Wow, that is very interesting and does sound similar to what we are doing! Thank you for your input and those links to other tools, my group and I will be sure to look through them!
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by McKee80 »

zozeppelin - I just saw this. That's pretty cool. My project doesn't have trail conditions, just a link to availability for campsites. It does have trip planning capabilities (I suck at HCI, so it is hard to find - you have to click on the hiker icon then select the trailhead and camps on your trip).

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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Really cool, I did miss that. Thanks for sharing that and developing the site.

As an aside, I think there is some ettiquite to not pound the NPS website with requests, as it already feels like it's on its last leg.
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