This is probably not a year that national park personnel in Montana are going to want to remember.

Recent flooding and evacuations caused a setback in tourism in Yellowstone National Park. And while things started opening again rather quickly, some vacationers had to react and change their plans to at least salvage some of their precious vacation time. And the natural trickle-down is felt in nearby communities who rely so heavily on those tourism dollars.

And Mother Nature is finding other ways to toy with park lovers, this time in northwest Montana.

One of the most popular attractions for those spending time in Glacier National Park is taking the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Topping out at an elevation of over 6,600 feet, it can be a limited season even during mild winters. But 2022 is likely going to be an opening day record breaker.

Associated Press reports that officials with Glacier are estimating that the opening day of the park's Going-to-the-Sun Road could have its latest opening since the road was built in 1933. Crews continue to plow deep snow, more of which piled on less than a month ago (June 17), which added two more feet of snow to the chaos.

The road will be passable no earlier than July 13. Even that is a prohibitive estimate. Since 1933, the road has opened after July 4 only five times.

Of course, this certainly does not mean tourists can't take in lots of the breathtaking wonder that is Glacier National Park.Traveling through the center of the park is way easier than it was back in the olden days, usually traversed in a few hours, even with restricted speed and all the stops you'll want to make for sightseeing.

Safe travels to one and all. We hope it's a getaway to remember for lots of the right reasons.

RANKED: Here are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Keep reading to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in reverse order from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individuals parks before you visit to find out about ongoing, pandemic-related safety precautions at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

 

 

 

 

 

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