Bdavis32 wrote:You guys have been super helpful. Thanks very much! I guess I'll just hope for good luck when I pick up the permit. Definitely planning on going the day before and being early to pick the permit up! I am leaning towards Bowman to Kintla or vice versa IF possible. Once we drop the car off, is there a difference in traffic going to Bowman or Kintla? As in, is it easier to hitchhike to Bowman or from Bowman? Or is it pretty much the same? Wasn't sure if one route had more 'traffic' than the other...
Thanks again!
Regarding changing your permit:
IRG is correct. You're only option is to get a modification when you pick up your permit on the morning
before your trip begins.
And being at the Back Country Office in Apgar
early is very good advice.
Keep in mind there will be people at every park location wanting permit changes just like you.
The new system seems to be working much faster and more efficiently this year.
Minutes will count that morning. Were I you, I would plan to be at the office no later than 5:30AM.
Take a book and be
1st in line. There will be many others coming. You won't regret the hassle.
The BC Office closes at 5PM. At that time they post a list of the available campsites on the door,
and On-Line.
This is what it looks like:
http://home.nps.gov/applications/glac/b ... status.cfm
There are no "dates", just the number of days out(6 days) from the current date
A Black Square indicates that there are no sites available at that location for that day.
If the space has a number, there are that number of sites available.
As I type this Bowman Lake(BOW) looks like this at 4:46PM
BOW - BOWMAN LK, HD 5 5 6 6 6 6
You can see that 1 site has been assigned for Saturday and Sunday, and therefore 5 still available. Make sense?
So the afternoon/evening before you pick up your permit, check this posting at the office or on-line.
You'll know right then if Kintla Lake(KIN) is available on the 2nd, 3rd, whatever day out.(If KIN is your choice to sub for Brown Pass)
UPK, Upper Kintla would also work for you imo. It's longer going out, but if the "geezer" and get back from UPK in a day, you can too
And frankly, I like Upper Kintla(UPK) campground better than Kintla(KIN), but either will work well for you.
Personally, I like to have my act together when I walk in. I show them what I want in this form, although it's not necessary.
You now have BOW-->HOL-->BRO--> out at Goat Haunt.
I would suggest BOW-->HOL-->UPK--out at Kintla Lake
or
BOW-->HOL-->KIN--> out at Kintla Lake
If you have time and Boulder Pass(BOU) will fit, I would add BOU after HOL.
Then your trip would look like BOW-->HOL-->BOU-->KIN
or UPK--> out at Kintla Lake.
I bet most here would agree that adding BOU, making it a 4 niter, is a good idea if possible.
And last, I would suggest ending at Kintla Lake rather than Bowman because.
Kintla Lake has 14 car camp sites. Bowman has 48.
I believe it would be easier to leave your car at Kintla and hitch back to Bowman.
Best chances of this working are for you to get to Kintla asap after picking up your permit.
The reason being that people checking out from Kintla will do it in the morning and therefore there will be a better chance of catching a ride back to where the Bowman Lake road intersects the road back from Kintla(see a map)
And since Bowman has 48 sites there will likely be more traffic headed
out to Bowman by the time you hitch back.
Make sense?
I hasten to add that there is no certainty about hitching in that area, but it's worth the effort if you get that itinerary--a very desirable one indeed!
That's my advice for you.
Cheers and good luck!
pete
PS
You want to keep in touch here. You may find out in the coming weeks and months that someone else here will have an itinerary that would allow you to avoid hitching.
The rangers in the BC Office are extremely helpful in helping folks get changes to their reserved itineraries.
So if my explanation is "Greek" don't worry. The BC rangers do these type of changes every day.
Glacier Park Chat
Thanks for all the suggestions. It sounds like the easiest thing to do is try and amend the permit so we exit Kintla Lake rather than Goat Haunt. How would I go about doing that? Would I just have to cross my fingers upon walking in to get my permit? Or is there a way to do it ahead of time? 
Go figure.
