Glacier National Park Fire info?

[Deb from NC]

Is anyone at or near Glacier National Park? We are scheduled to fly there on Saturday and wondering if we should cancel due to the fires in the West side of the park. It looks like the air quality/smoke is pretty bad throughout the park, but would really like to hear from anyone who is in the area!
Thanks, Deb

 

[Tacoma]

I am in Calgary so around 3-4 hours away. The smoke is all across the west from BC to Manitoba in Canada. We have had very poor air quality for about 5 days now but today seems to be better. The biggest disappointment will be that the beautiful views will be not very clear. Unless you have breathing problems there is likely no long term health effects from the smoke. We leave for Kelowna today (the middle of BC so closer to a lot of fires) and expect that valley to potentially be worse. Every day is different as it depends on the direction of the wind. I am afraid this is our new normal as last years fires were so bad we could barely see the mountains in the Rogers Pass as we drove out to Kelowna early in August. For me cancelling would depend on how much money was at stake. If I could get my money back I might not go but this week in Kelowna is fully paid for and we will make the best of it. Good luck with your decision. I believe you can look on line for an air advisory update but on the news it pretty much shows all of the western provinces.

Joan

 

[Deb from NC]

Thanks Joan. We wouldn’t get any money back (non refundable plane tickets, too late to cancel our rental cabin ) so I’m also leaning toward going and making the best of it. We will keep our eyes on the air quality over the next few days and hope for the best... Safe travels to you as well!
Deb

 

[Greg G]

Thanks Joan. We wouldn’t get any money back (non refundable plane tickets, too late to cancel our rental cabin ) so I’m also leaning toward going and making the best of it. We will keep our eyes on the air quality over the next few days and hope for the best... Safe travels to you as well!
Deb

Note that the park (https://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm) has closed Going to the Sun Road from the foot of Lake McDonald at the Apgar village area up to Logan Pass so you could only access that road from the East side of the Park thru St. Mary's. Whether it will open on the west side by next Sat. is anyones guess. Like Joan indicated it depends on the wind direction as to whether parts of the park will be overcast by smoke or not. Also check on the weather forcast. When I went in 2017 there were good days and bad days (on the east side of the park at Many Glacier) during the fires and I went out on the good days and had a great time (hiked to beautiful turquoise Cracker Lake on one day and saw several moose another day on the Red Rock Lake trail ). Also even on days where there is smoke up higher it an produce some pretty dramatic scenery.

Greg

 

[Deb from NC]

Thanks Greg. I found a fire information telephone hotline, and unfortunately the fire seems to be spreading . Fish Creek Campground has now been evacuated and Apgar is under an evacuation warning. ( the cabin we have rented is a few miles from Apgar). We will watch carefully and see what happens over the next few days....

 

[judithv]

Is anyone at or near Glacier National Park? We are scheduled to fly there on Saturday and wondering if we should cancel due to the fires in the West side of the park. It looks like the air quality/smoke is pretty bad throughout the park, but would really like to hear from anyone who is in the area!
Thanks, Deb

Hello;

We are in Spokane WA, 272 miles away. The haze and smoke are very heavy here. This is the worst we have ever seen the air.

 

[judithv]

Here is a link to the fire map of the Northwest:

https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/information/largefiremap.aspx

 

[chellej]

we were in Clark fork, id over the weekend and the smoke was really bad. Today it is hazardous...it is getting worse.

 

[easyrider]

The smoke is really bad in WA today. The local news said it was only going to get worse this week.

Bill