[Cdt-l] advance reservations for back country sites in GNP

[R Smith]

I hiked from the Chief Mountain trail head to East Glacier last year, using
advanced reservations. I started July 4th. South from Saint Mary I stayed at
Red Eagle Head, Atlantic Creek, then Two Medicine. No Name, Morning Star,
and Old Man were still snowbound, as was the trail via Dawson Pass. That is
why those 3 lakes all have 7/15 opening dates, whereas Red Eagle and
Atlantic, being at a lower altitude, have 6/15 opening dates.

My advice is to apply for advanced reservations for Red Eagle (I recommend
REH), Atlantic, and Two Medicine. If it turns out to be a low snow year and
No Name opens early, you can re-book at the ranger station.

Good luck!

Ron Smith



Message: 4
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 16:39:16 +0800
From: "Kathy-Tom Laskowske" <tom_laskowske at wycliffe.net>
Subject: [Cdt-l] advance reservations for back country sites in
	Glacier NP
To: "CDT discussion" <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Message-ID: <8E8E4CD8E4EB41C0B3DDE0E7F0F49D53 at KathysP30>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"

To CDT hikers:

I am planning to hike between Many Glacier and East Glacier Park summer
2009. Has anyone succeeded in making advance reservations for a CDT hike in
Glacier before Aug 1? The reason I ask is that the info on NPS's web site
for Glacier (a 7 page pdf document) says there are date restrictions on
advance reservations for certain back country sites. Some of these sites are
critical to my hiking plan, namely Red Eagle Lake (available Aug 1) and No
Name Lake (available Jul 15). I would like to hike in early July.


Are we thru hikers bound to negotiate for camp sites the day before the
hike? How big is the risk of plans not working out in that case? Is there no
way for people like us to work around those date restrictions and get
advance reservations (which begin to be processed April 15)? The NPS
document features a photo of a person disappointed because his application
was not processed. Perhaps he requested a camp site before the availability
date. Sounds threatening.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Tom Laskowske
member, CDTS