WEST GLACIER — It takes a drive or a bike ride up Going-to-the-Sun Road to view the full beauty of Glacier National Park.
The iconic road officially opened for the 2025 season on Monday after months of warmer weather and hard work.
Watch to learn what you can do and see at Glacier National Park:
Going-to-the-Sun Road is now fully accessible by car or bike, and while this date is not an unusual time for the road to be open, park spokeswoman Autumn Sifuentes says crews at the park worked diligently to make sure it was ready to be traveled.
“It takes a lot of work, especially for our plow staff they're working on avalanches, removing the snow, doing it safely, rock slides,” Sifuentes said. “We also just want everyone to be safe; they have to put guard rails in. There's a lot of work that goes into it, you know, besides getting rid of the snow.
With that hard work in mind, some responsibility also falls on the travelers of the road to keep it safe and clean. Sifuentes reminds visitors not to discard any leftover food scraps on the road, even if they are biodegradable.
Sometimes people think that it's okay to leave it on the trail because they think it will just go away, but that could attract animals that we don't really want,” Sifuentes said. “Especially if it's off on the road, then there's animals near the roadside which we don't want because that could become a safety issue.”
With the road safe and open, tourists who are already here from across the country lucked out with their choice to visit.
That is the case for Charlene Oleinick, who is visiting the park for the first time in decades from Tennessee with her partner, who has never visited.
“I have distinct memories of Going-to-the-Sun Road, which I think I went to the first time when I was about 5 years old,” Oleinick said. “So it's now 60 years later, and so I'm really looking forward to seeing it again and seeing if my memories are accurate or real.”
Timed entry vehicle registrations are only needed from the west entrance and are available from now until Sept. 28. More information can be found here.
