Park warns of lines up to two miles long as Logan Pass opens for the season

The full length of the Going-to-the-Sun Road opened Monday morning to vehicle traffic and the weather was June-like as ever at Logan Pass with thick clouds, cold sleet and temperatures in the low 40s.

Still, traffic was backed up onto Highway 2 as this was the first summer since 2021 that the park has not had some sort of reservation system to travel the popular highway.

It could get worse once the weather improves. The Park Service warned in a press release that the line could be as long as 2 miles and take more than 30 minutes to get through.

While the line wasn’t quite that long Monday morning at about 7 a.m., it did take about 30 minutes to get into the park. Part of the problem with traffic backing up onto Highway 2, as it is bound to do, is that there is no bypass lane, save for the shoulder, for traffic simply trying to drive past the park and continue east.

Traffic aside, the park reminds travelers that vehicles and vehicle combinations longer than 21 feet (including bumpers) or wider than 8 feet (including mirrors) are prohibited between Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun. Vehicles over 10 feet in height may have difficulty driving west from Logan Pass to The Loop due to rock overhangs. Stock trucks and trailers can access Packers Roost on the west and Siyeh Bend on the east.  

The Highline Trail from Logan Pass is closed due to snow conditions and the pass itself remains snowy, though people were still running around in T-shirts and shorts.

Some folks saw Logan Pass last weekend in a far less crowded state, as the road was open to hikers and bikers only to the pass. 

Now bicycles are prohibited from Apgar to Logan Pass going eastbound between noon and 6 p.m. and bicycles are prohibited from Logan Pass to Apgar going westbound between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. until Sept. 27.

New this year there is a three-hour parking limit at Logan Pass and the Park Service is offering a free express shuttle to the pass for people who want to hike the Highline Trail. The shuttle will drop people off at the pass and pick them up at the Loop and give them a ride back to their starting point on either the west or east side, depending on where they first started their trip.

It does not stop at other trailheads like Avalanche Creek, for example.

The service is expected to start July 1.

The Park Service has also added more parking, with a new lot just past the west entrance. The lot, which was used to store gravel and other material during Sun Road reconstruction, is now for people using the red bus or Sun Tours from the west side.

The idea is to relieve parking strain at Apgar.

This year’s opener was a bit later than last year’s as it opened on June 14 from the east side and then June 16 entirely.

Snowpack at lower elevations was non-existent this year, but higher terrain saw some massive avalanches and about 135 feet of rock wall was damaged and will need repair at some point.