Restrictions Grow With Glacier Fire Risks

Sun., Aug. 27, 2000

From Staff

The park remains open but the list of things you cannot do while visiting is expanding because of continuing fire danger.

Generally, you can’t find a hot meal in the backcountry because of new restrictions on use of camp stoves.

Most hiking trails are open but you can’t go out for more than three days at a time. And you cannot smoke, roast marshmallows over a fire, light a campstove to heat soup, walk off a trail, read by candlelight or camp anywhere other than designated areas.

And because of new lightning-caused small fires, visitors cannot stay at Logging or Quartz lakes or hike in the surrounding backcountry.

They also cannot drive the Inside North Fork Road between Polebridge and Fish Creek and cannot hike the Grinnell Glacier Trail near Many Glacier.

Front-country campers cannot cook with a camp stove without a permit, and cannot smoke unless they’re inside vehicles and buildings or in designated areas.

Still, Glacier remains one of the few public-land destinations open to visitors in northwestern Montana, and the Going-to-the-Sun Road remains open, as do most park lakes and streams.

Yellowstone National Park also remains open but many fire-season regulations also are in force there.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.