Glacier National Park Prep: Quickly Adapting to 3 Unexpected Snags

The main reason Brian and I haven’t visited before now is that, while Glacier National Park is open year-round, several attractions, including the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road, are only accessible for a short period during the summer. This limited time creates a narrow window for us to fully explore the park. With our budget set and time blocked off, we’re excited to finally make our trip happen!

Montana’s Glacier National Park shines as ‘The Crown of the Continent,’ a name that aptly reflects its unspoiled scenery of glacier-sculpted landscapes, alpine meadows, and glistening lakes. It’s an expansive wilderness that covers over a million acres and 700 miles of hiking trails. Home to one of the top scenic drives in the United States, this park has been on our wish list for quite a while.

Planning for Glacier National Park

I’ll be honest, short of driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road, we had no set itinerary. We anticipated loose, unstructured adventures in which we’d wander aimlessly from one trailhead to another, getting lost in the vastness of Glacier’s immersive views and stunning landscapes. This getaway was just for us—a soulful opportunity to step away from daily routine and into the wilderness.

Our plan was to find cheap flights, rent a car, and stay on the east side of the park, where we could explore some of the less crowded trails. Honestly, Brian and I didn’t do much serious research until a couple of months ago; we were just leaning on minimal resources, such as

• GuideAlong’s Glacier National Park audio tour — 160+ Audio Points
• AllTrails app for reviewing top recommended hikes
• Offline maps via Google Maps

Unfortunately, what we thought would be a relatively inexpensive and straightforward strategy turned out to be more complicated than expected. Oh, how blissfully naive we were!

3 Surprises That Nearly Changed Our Plans

I’m a Type A with a free-spirited outlook. Naturally, this means I operate with a Plan A in place, followed by a Plan B, Plan C, and so on, just in case things take a turn. With that being said, I’m really glad I took a closer look at our travel plans before we set off on our adventure.

Here are 3 unexpected snags we encountered and what we did to pivot and stay on track.

Limited Border Crossing Hours

Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell is by far the closest airport to Glacier National Park. It’s also the most expensive airport for us to fly into Montana. At nearly $1,000 per ticket (plus the inconvenience of no direct flights), along with $900 for a 4-day economy car rental, we had to consider alternative airports if we wanted to keep our trip within a reasonable budget.

Brian and I set our sights on $250 nonstop flights to Calgary, AB, Canada. What a steal, right? Not only were the flights cheaper, but the car rental would have cost about $250 as well. Wowza. And it was only 3 hours away from our VRBO, compared to the expense and more than 2-hour drive from Kalispell.

Luckily, before we purchased flights, I double-checked the border crossing hours to verify our route into Babb, MT. Surprise! They were closed when we’d be crossing into the USA and crossing back into Canada for our return flight. Ruh-oh. Additionally, we realized how tricky grocery shopping would be before our VRBO arrival. The options in Babb are pretty sparse, and bringing fresh produce across the border is more complicated than we were ready to tackle. Double ruh-oh!

I checked a number of airports, including ones in Washington and Idaho. What was intended to be a super simple plan turned into a logistical challenge as we worked through different options. Brian and I finally opted for a connecting flight through Denver into Great Falls, Montana, 2.5 hours away from our accommodations. Moderately priced and within reasonable proximity of the park, Great Falls checked off enough of our boxes to become our best option.

Kalispell, MT

FCA: Glacier Park International Airport

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• $1,000/ticket
• No nonstop flights
• $$$$ car rentals
• Summer crowds
• 2+ hours from VRBO

Calgary, AB, CA

YYC: Calgary International Airport

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• $250/ticket
• Nonstop flight
• Affordable car rental
• Border crossing issues
• 3 hours from VRBO

Great Falls, MT

GTF: Great Falls International Airport

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• $500/ticket
• 1-stop in Denver
• $300 car rental
• Grocery variety
• 2.5 hours from VRBO

Many Glacier Closure

Guess which area of the park has some of the most sought-after, awe-inspiring trails? Many Glacier! And guess which part of the park is closed to public access from between July 1 and September 21, 2025? That’s right—Many Glacier!

Oh man, my heart dropped to my stomach once I learned this. My lack of research caught up with me; we needed to reassess our plans.

Personal vehicle access into Many Glacier is currently restricted due to construction and extremely limited parking. During this time, entrance into Many Glacier will only be permitted for those with:

• Reservations at Many Glacier Hotel (tends to book up a year in advance!).
• Commercial service reservations such as boat tours and horseback riding tours.
• A wilderness camping permit.
• Extremely competitive day hiker shuttle tickets.

The only viable option for us to visit Many Glacier would be through the day hiker shuttle tickets. Acquiring these tickets is, again, a complicated process. Yeesh. So much for a straightforward, easy-peasy plan! Here’s the scoop on scoring tickets:

• A Recreation.gov account is needed to complete a ticket reservation.
• Tickets are released 1 week in advance at 8AM MT and at 7PM MT the night before entry.
• 35 Tickets are available in each of these 1-hour time blocks: 7-8AM, 8-9AM, 9-10AM, and 10-11AM.
• Tickets can only be reserved 4 at a time; each person requires a ticket for entry.
• Each reservation is processed with a $2 Recreation.gov fee.

I discovered just how competitive this situation was when I missed out on tickets during my first attempt, watching them vanish within seconds of release. After reading a few tips, Brian and I tried our hands at a buddy system to boost our chances of getting tickets.

The Trick to Scoring Many Glacier Day Hiker Shuttle Tickets

Thankfully, we managed to land tickets on our second try. These are the steps we took:

• Both of us logged into our own Recreation.gov accounts on separate laptops.
• On the reservation page, we pre-selected the number of tickets.
• We clicked the calendar and hovered over our desired date.
• Using a separate device, we opened an exact time clock that displayed both seconds and milliseconds.
• At the exact time of release, we clicked on our desired date and completed the reservation process.

This strategy eliminated just a couple of steps that would have otherwise taken a few precious seconds at the time of release. It’s no wonder that these tickets immediately sell out.

This trick allowed both of us to reserve two tickets each! Of course, Brian released his so that others had the chance to grab tickets before they were gone. Tickets quickly come and go the first 15 minutes to an hour after release; this is because carts time out after 15 minutes, which gives people time to confirm decisions or trade different time slots.

Honestly, I was mentally prepared to accept that we’d have to plan another trip to see Many Glacier. Luckily, our strategy worked. Scoring these tickets felt like a small victory. Now, we could focus on figuring out which Many Glacier trails we’d like to explore.

Timed Entry Vehicle Reservations for Going-to-the-Sun Road

While casually browsing, we learned of another required reservation, making it clear that Glacier National Park isn’t exactly primed for spontaneous adventure—at least for this year. We kept hearing different things from friends and online sources; some said you don’t need a reservation at all, while others warned that reservations are mandatory for certain time slots.

Of course, we went straight to the source to find out what the real story was so we wouldn’t be caught off guard. Checking this requirement wasn’t a massive inconvenience, but it just goes to show that my original idea of leisurely wanderings was going to require a bit more foresight than I initially thought.

Fortunately, a quick glance at the official guidelines on Recreation.gov revealed that a timed entry reservation is only required for the west entrance and North Fork area of the park between 7AM and 3PM MT from June 13 through September 28, 2025. Whew! Since we were staying on the east side of Glacier National Park, we didn’t have to scramble for a reservation!

I can understand why our friends were so adamant about the reservation requirement, as the majority of visitors stay on the west side and therefore enter the park through that entrance. So, word to the wise: Stay on the east side for fewer crowds, more wildlife, and a simpler trip without the hassle of vehicle reservations.

Away We Go!

As we gear up for our adventure in Glacier National Park, we’re grateful that we took a closer look at the details. While I initially imagined a laid-back, spontaneous escape, it turns out that some planning was essential. While these snags could have been overwhelming, they ultimately proved to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Had we not recognized these complications and changed our plans, we might have genuinely missed out on our trip and would have had to reschedule it for a more convenient experience.

Now that everything is sorted, Brian and I are ready to hit the trails! Stay tuned to see where our wanderings take us!

Have you visited Glacier National Park or another national park? What unexpected challenges did you run into, and how did you adapt?