Glacier National Park starting ticketed Entry
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2021/03/31/glacier-national-park-unveils-ticketed-entry-system-for-sun-road/ I'm sure there are going to be questions and local pushback.
Forum Discussion
For context, those that enjoy the backcountry of the National Parks have dealt with limited numbers, permits and lotteries for a long time. Yes it can be disappointing when you can't get the backpacking, rafting, climbing or canyoneering trip on the day you wanted (or at all). But most agree that for the wilderness to remain wild, you need to manage the visitation and impact and can't have a free-for-all.
I personally would prefer to have a less frequent but experience-of-a-lifetime type experience in the wilderness than to be able to go whenever I want and have to play bumper boats on the Grand or race people for campsites on the Teton Crest Trail. Obviously visitation will be higher and the experience is less wild in the front country, but it still comes to the point where the crowding detracts from the experience for everyone.
One thing I do hope is that if/when they do go to reserved/permitted entry, that the commercial operators don't get to jump the queue. This is a huge issue with backcountry use, where a certain percentage of permitts are reserved for a small number of commercial operators, meaning they are not available to the general public.
I personally would prefer to have a less frequent but experience-of-a-lifetime type experience in the wilderness than to be able to go whenever I want and have to play bumper boats on the Grand or race people for campsites on the Teton Crest Trail. Obviously visitation will be higher and the experience is less wild in the front country, but it still comes to the point where the crowding detracts from the experience for everyone.
One thing I do hope is that if/when they do go to reserved/permitted entry, that the commercial operators don't get to jump the queue. This is a huge issue with backcountry use, where a certain percentage of permitts are reserved for a small number of commercial operators, meaning they are not available to the general public.
