GNP Permits

[10-K]

Should be hearing about my GNP permits in the next few weeks.

I have done zero planning - waiting until I hear from the park.

[Venchka]

Good luck!
Are you familiar with 743 Hike, the great GNP hiking and backpacking resource? The author has been writing lately about trip planning in GNP.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[bearcreek]

Half of the permits are walk-in. They are fairly easy to get. Worst case scenario is that you might have to wait a day or two before you start once you get there. So, don't sweat it too much if you don't get the reserved ones.

[Spirit Walker]

As long as you are okay with going either north to south or south to north, you should be fine. All of the routes through Glacier are good ones.

[10-K]

I'm hiking in mid-July - I understand that's when everyone wants to go hiking in GNP... That is to say, it might not be easy to get walk up permits?

I'm coming.. Worse case is I'll finagle a way to day hike as much as possible and I believe it is possible to leave E. Glacier and hike out of the park in one day. I return my rental car in E. Glacier so that's my nuclear option.

[Venchka]

The web page is Hike 734.
https://www.hike734.com/backpacking/
Good info on playing the trip lottery. Too late for this year.
Also good info on walk up permits.
You will hike GNP mid July.
Have fun.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Venchka]

From Jake at Hike 734:

So you had you're ideal route all planned out. It was going to be the perfect trip to Glacier, but then it happened. You got the denial email from the park service. Now what?
(Now if you're one of the lucky ones who got the itinerary you submitted, you can ignore the next couple of paragraphs, or put it in your back pocked for future reference. Either way, read below for a quick favor.)

There are two more options to get a great trip. One is walk-in permits which we'll talk about in future emails, but for now, we'll talk about the regular old advanced reservation permits.

The first step in getting an advanced reservation permit after the lottery ends is to see what is available. Head on over to the Advanced Reservation page and begin the process of clicking on the sites that you want and seeing which dates remain. Once you determine the route you want based upon availability, fill out the advanced reservation form you did for the lottery which is available on the Backcountry Camping page, then mail, fax, or drop it off in the same way you did for the lottery.

Remember that it is now a first come, first serve game now, so if someone's permit request lands before yours and the last advanced site gets taken, you'll get denied. The good news is that you're not out your money. I'm not even sure if they're done processing all of the applications yet, so wait until you get a denial or confirmation before you send in another application.

If you can't get your advanced reservation permit, the other good news is that you can still get a walk-in permit that we'll discuss in the future.

Good luck!

Wayne

[bearcreek]

Don't overthink this. You will get in.

Having the car should help a bunch. Spend a night in East Glacier, then get up early and drive to the Two Medicine Ranger Station before 7AM which is when they open. This will put you near the front of the line for beginning your hike the following day. Or day hike to Two Medicine and take a chance on being able to camp there. You will probably arrive too late to get a reservation for that day, but will be well-positioned to get a permit the next morning. There will be other hikers in the campground, and even if the campground is full you may be able to add a tent to their site. Worst case scenario is that you would have to hitch back to East Glacier and try again the next day.

[magic_game03]

Don't overthink this. You will get in.

+1

Or day hike to Two Medicine and take a chance on being able to camp there. You will probably arrive too late to get a reservation for that day, but will be well-positioned to get a permit the next morning. There will be other hikers in the campground, and even if the campground is full you may be able to add a tent to their site. Worst case scenario is that you would have to hitch back to East Glacier and try again the next day.

With the hiker-biker sites I can't imagine that any hiker would be shutout. Just be sure to pay your $5 they will check! Of course I stopped to check out this site and decided to keep on going (into town.) That particular hiker-biker site is dry, dusty, no shade, and in the middle of the campground. Well, they are all in the middle of campgrounds but because this area is so dry it kicks up a lot of dust.

[magic_game03]

10-K

I'm headed to Glacier 4/25, so in a few days, and I just wanted to throw something out there on a side note. Earlier in some post you mentioned not being favorable to your cuben fiber gear. After my experience last year in GNP I'm carrying a separate cuben fiber tarp just for my cooking area. So here's what happened. My first 9 days in Glacier it rained non-stop (reminds me of my first AT thru, it rained every day for my first sixty days out.) I started to notice that tarps were in high demand and low supply. In fact I went around to a few RV's trying to buy a spare tarp off anyone. Not happening.

So, here's the problem. In the back country you have to cook in a separate place than where you camp. Cooking areas are about 100-200 feet away from the campsites and Glacier is ultra strict when it comes to their policies. Another rule they have is that you have to drop ALL food, hygiene, and cooking materials off at the cooking area BEFORE you go to your campsite. None of these materials are allowed in the campsite at any time. So now imagine this, it's raining hard and you pull into a campsite but you have to drop your smelly food/hygiene stuff off over at the cook area. You don't get the option of setting up camp, reorganizing your wet's from your dry's, separating out your food and cook gear, then head over to the cook area to cook. NOPE! you gotta go over to the cook area and do all that there, in the rain, then quickly go over to the camp area and set up camp, then come back to do your cooking. All in the rain. Not exactly a splendid experience (interesting, but not splendid.) You know what's worse than setting up camp in the rain… yea, that's right, packing up all your gear in the rain and knowing your going to have to do it all over again the next night because you aren't anywhere near a trailhead. Oh yea, don't forget you have to pack up in the rain in TWO different areas. First you have to pack up all your camp stuff then head over to the cooking area to pack up that stuff. Remember it's not just about carrying your stuff over to a cooking area, your stuff has to STAY in the cook area. You are not suppose to bring it over to the camp to un-pack or pack-up. It's hard to explain how tedious and unnerving this is but it will push even thru-hikers like myself to reconsider this conundrum.



So then I started to take notice. When I camped with people who have previously hiked in Glacier they all had tarps! Mama raised a fool but not an idiot. So while I've never had the need for a tarp before, I have one now.

I suspect most CDT thru’s never notice this because they will hike through the park in a few days and once they cross Marias Pass into the Bob, your pretty much on your own. So, they will put up with this contortion for a few days. But if your planning on being in the park for a week or so and every night is like this… I recommend you bring a spare CF tarp!

[10-K]

Still waiting.

I bet I check my email 100 times a day....

[Venchka]

Try waiting until this time Monday evening. Bet you can't. LOL.
Good luck.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Venchka]

Encouraging news for a 2015 South Bounder...

You can check out the Grinnell Lake Spring 2015 Blog here and know two things: 1. Glacier still has a lot of snow. 2. It's melting out faster than previous years.

17081342750_04b565575b_b.jpg

Wayne
Eagerly anticipating "Getting out there" in 2016

[Marta]

I'm planning to go to Two Medicine tomorrow for a hike. Some other friends are going to Many Glacier tomorrow. Friends have had an amazing number of animal encounters during their hikes over the last couple of weeks. I've been missing it all while I was hiking in California...

[10-K]

Have permit! Here's my schedule through the park. I have to figure out how to get from Red Eagle to East Glacier. My current plan is to try to add a walk up reservation to a campsite somewhere close to the middle when I pick up my permit - just short of Two Medicine.


ENTER (TRAILHEAD) - CHIEF MOUNTAIN
. 7-15-2015 - GAB - GABLE CREEK
. 7-16-2015 - MAN - MANY GLACIER
. 7-17-2015 - REY - REYNOLDS
. 7-18-2015 - REF - RED EAGLE, FT
EXIT (TRAILHEAD) - CUT BANK CREEK

[magic_game03]

Have permit!

I have to figure out how to get from Red Eagle to East Glacier...


My current plan is to try to add a walk up reservation to a campsite somewhere close to the middle when I pick up my permit - just short of Two Medicine...

Just got back from two weeks in Glacier and the Bob, last night. Still psyched.

To get that permit that you want I only see two options. First, you could always get somebody else to get the permit for you and drop it off to you as you pass through at Piegan Pass. This method could have some hitches though. Second, Double back from Reynolds and catch the shuttle (at Piegan) down to St. Mary Lake Ranger Station. Pick up the pass for the following night at Atlantic Creek. DON'T Catch the shuttle back up, instead leave out of Red Eagle Trail at St. Mary. While you may look at the maps and think you can make it back to Piegan, the problem is how ridiculously slow the shuttles are. Let's put it this way, if you left on the express shuttle, to Logan Pass, in the morning, it would still take you all day to get to St. Mary and back.

Congrats on getting your permit! To be honest I didn't think you had a chance in hell so I'm glad it worked out for you.

Couple of notes: Pizza and showers at Many Glacier. Nothing at Piegan, Logan, St. Mary, or Two Medicine. Also, the Hostel in E. Glacier is very hospitable to Thru's. The pastries at Brownies (in E. Glacier) are better than the pastries at Polebridge. So if anybody say's they got pastries at Polebridge, just tell them you went to Brownies. The town of Browning (north of E. Glacier) is the pits, it is basically slums. And last but not least, they have wide mouth pepsi bottles at all the stores along the east side. As an AT thru of '03, '04, and '05 many hikers coveted those wide mouth pepsi bottles, which no longer exist on the east coast. Last year I actually brought some home just so I'd have a few spare laying around.

[Venchka]

I'm confused. Did the rangers leave a gap in your itinerary? That's strange.
Have a ton of fun.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[10-K]

I have 2 choices to get from Red Eagle to East Glacier.

1. Hike 28 miles (the distance between RE and EG)

2. When I pick up my permit ask to have one of the campsites between RE and EG added to my permit to break the 28 miles into 2 sections.

[10-K]

Couple of notes: Pizza and showers at Many Glacier. Nothing at Piegan, Logan, St. Mary, or Two Medicine. Also, the Hostel in E. Glacier is very hospitable to Thru's. The pastries at Brownies (in E. Glacier) are better than the pastries at Polebridge. So if anybody say's they got pastries at Polebridge, just tell them you went to Brownies.

Valuable information, thanks!

I will arrive at Glacier with 1.5 days before my hike starts. I have a bunk reserved for those 2 nights and another night as I leave the park hiking south so I'll be with them for 3 days.

[Spirit Walker]

If you can't get them to give you backcountry permits beyond Red Eagle, you might be able to stay at the car campgrounds at Cut Bank and Two Medicine. That way you won't miss the fantastic hike over Pitamakin and Dawson Passes.