WEST GLACIER — People who frequent Glacier National Park look forward to this day every year.
Going-to-the-Sun Road officially opened Tuesday morning for motorized vehicles all the way through from both the West Glacier and St. Mary entrances.
“Mother Nature decides when Going-to-the-Sun Road opens, and we just assist," said Glacier National Park spokeswoman Gina Icenoggle.
Mother Nature decided to open the road early this season, in fact, the earliest opening on record since 2005.
“We saw average or slightly below average snowpacks and we had some warm days that helped with melting out, rain also came through and assisted with rushing the melting of the snow, so we had a lot of things on our side that helped us open earlier this year," Icenoggle told MTN News.
Icenoggle added it’s always a gamble if the road will be fully open for folks visiting each June.
“Early in June, you got to have a little luck on your side whether or not you’re going to be able to see the road open all the way, so I would say folks who’re visiting right now and get to enjoy the road being open are pretty lucky.”
Alex Kwok and his family are visiting Glacier National Park for the first time from California. He feels like they lucked out.
“You know so fortuitous that the day we come the road’s opening, we’re absolutely going to do the road, we’re so excited to do the road it’s going to be great, family trip, it’s going to be awesome.”
Icenoggle reminds those vising the park to check the forecast daily, as Mother Nature may still have a few surprises up her sleeve.
“We most likely won’t have to plow again if there’s snow, the snow most likely won’t stick, what we’re more concerned with is heavy rainfall that would cause rock slides. And that may be a situation where we would have to close the road for a while," Icenoggle said.
The latest information about conditions in Glacier National Park can be found here.
