Glacier Status 2020

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Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Starting a new thread to post images from the project I have been working on for backcountry trail and camp current status and projections. Feedback and discussion appreciated.

Still working on parsing the status text (NPS 'irregularities'). Colors need improved. Next stage will be building itineraries from the connectivity mesh.

Projected for July 4th. Hat tip to Ranger 650 - keep it up!

Legend:
Camps-
Yellow - 'not available due to environmental conditions'
Green - available for projected date
Black - full for projected date
Trails-
Red - Not clear, no projected clearing date (this year)
Orange - not clear, projected clearing date in future
Purple - not clear, projected clearing date has passed
Yellow - not clear, but clear to X (snowline, etc)
Blue - trail clear (red status)
Green - trail clear (green status)



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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by brindledog »

This looks great, and I've seen it in other posts. Thank you for putting this together.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Here is the status for today. There has been a little movement in the last week, but I am hopeful for for a good day Monday on updates once the 'east of the divide' edict is lifted.

Note, every single one of the trails is 'closed' by GLAC standards because the icon is red on the trail status page. Instead, they have listed 'CLOSED' on each trail explicitly that isn't open. I am sticking with the color convention in the meantime until GLAC gets their webpage in order.

Based on trail clearing progress, I predict Bowman, Arrow and Camas are next, followed by Upper Kintla. Then maybe gunsight once they get the bridge in.

GTTSR is open up to Rising Sun starting Monday, so it will be interesting to watch:
  • How much around St Mary Lake opens (especially since it is already cleared).
  • Same for Many Glacier once the highline / swiftcurrent are snow cleared.
  • I speculate Belly River will be the lowest priority since there will be no entry point until the tunnel opens or Stoney Indian Pass clears (or Red Gap Pass) since the eastern entry points are closed.
  • Two Medcine has many of the lower trails cleared (which presumably take more time since they are below the treeline) up to the snowline (where presumably there won't be as much work needed outside of erosion maintenance and bridges).
  • Nyack has been largely ignored (no target date for clearance), presumably due to the fords being too risky at this point.
  • Goat Haunt also doesn't have target dates as this is the furthest from an open road with the Canadian border closed.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Some good progress today on campsites:

BOW, ARR, UPP, OTO now open

On trails, nothing major, more progress on gunsight towards ELL, but also Red Gap cleared (closed, but hopefully they're thinking of clearing MG area to BR).

Next up I think are CAM, REY, UPK, GUN, SPE, ELL, ISA,and hopefully REH/F.

For the legend, I gave up on waiting for them to use the green icons to indicate trail open. If it isn't explicitly listed as closed, and it is clear, I went green. Closed and clear = blue. Winter status = white.

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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by al_in_al »

zozeppelin wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:17 pm For the legend, I gave up on waiting for them to use the green icons to indicate trail open.
Are you referring to the trail status page? If so, the bullets are always red. They don't indicate trail status. It may be misleading, but in years of watching that page, they've always been red.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

al_in_al wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:33 pm
zozeppelin wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:17 pm For the legend, I gave up on waiting for them to use the green icons to indicate trail open.
Are you referring to the trail status page? If so, the bullets are always red. They don't indicate trail status. It may be misleading, but in years of watching that page, they've always been red.
Well, in that case I stand corrected, redact my gripe and submit an improvement request :) Thanks for the correction!

I am probably confusing it with the Trail Closures and Walkin Availability website icons (which use the exact same images ... red.gif, yellow.gif, black.gif, etc). Makes too much sense ....
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by PeteE »

Zozeppelin:

I wasn't sure until Monday when he came up to me at the visitor Center, but Ranger 623 is a guy I met back in 2015 on the first day the GTTS road was open. I know/knew his name but wasn't sure he was 623. I don't want to post it in public without permission.

I got to the Siyeh pass trailhead very early and was the first person on the trail. I was about half way up the switchbacks
when I saw a Ranger coming way down below. He caught up with me in seemingly no time :shock:
It was Ranger 623. He was nice enough to hike the rest of the way to the pass with slow old me! :)
He was doing the "trail check" for the reports you see on the posted on the park website.
That is his primary job---walking ALL the trails in his section of the park.
And it was he who pointed out the beautiful "Jones Columbine" flowers.
Ranger 623 is a retired Marine Master Sargent and he can walk most people right into the ground.
15-20 mile days, sometimes many days in a row, are "routine" for him.
623 is a heck of a nice guy.

pete :wink:
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

PeteE wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 8:12 pm Zozeppelin:

I wasn't sure until Monday when he came up to me at the visitor Center, but Ranger 623 is a guy I met back in 2015 on the first day the GTTS road was open. I know/knew his name but wasn't sure he was 623. I don't want to post it in public without permission.

I got to the Siyeh pass trailhead very early and was the first person on the trail. I was about half way up the switchbacks
when I saw a Ranger coming way down below. He caught up with me in seemingly no time :shock:
It was Ranger 623. He was nice enough to hike the rest of the way to the pass with slow old me! :)
He was doing the "trail check" for the reports you see on the posted on the park website.
That is his primary job---walking ALL the trails in his section of the park.
And it was he who pointed out the beautiful "Jones Columbine" flowers.
Ranger 623 is a retired Marine Master Sargent and he can walk most people right into the ground.
15-20 mile days, sometimes many days in a row, are "routine" for him.
623 is a heck of a nice guy.

pete :wink:
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.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by risingwolf »

They are busy clearing trails and obviously making some progress though painfully slow. Cut them some slack.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Isabel and Upper Kintla now open. I'm holding out for some trail clearing to update the map, hopefully tomorrow.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Granite Park finally open along with highline trail it appears even though they're not calling it open or cleared.

250 putting in some work: Park Creek trail now cleared all the way to Two Medicine Pass (here's to hoping ...)

Assuming MG and TM areas won't open trails, I think the focus will be on Gunsight (would think SPE, REY and GUN would be soon) and Bowman/Kintla loop (BRO, BOU, HOL). FIF would also provide the ability to loop FLA and GRN.

Personally hoping to see Red Eagle or Cobalt open as to provide some hope for TM. MG would be nice as well, but that is a lot of camps to setup if they want to get BR going.

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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Ole Creek and Gunsight on the board.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by orin »

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.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

Yes I saw that as well, closed before it ever opened?

The good news, now open: Lake Ellen WIlson, Sperry and Ole Lake.

So as far as the 'open' zone, I think all that is left is Camas, Lincoln, the Nyack area, Bowman/Kintla Loop area (BRO/HOL/BOU), and Reynolds (I assume due to not having a logic use due to the constraints of not being the first/last night). I was hoping for some trail progress before updating the map.
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Re: Glacier Status 2020

Post by zozeppelin »

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