After planning a year in advance to visit Glacier National Park, we discover that some roads, lakes and hikes are closed due to wildfires. Why? About a week before our visit in August, 2018, lightning created a wildfire along Lake McDonald.
From what we understand, it spread quickly and sparked new wildfires throughout the park. Here is one of the many write-ups for reference ‘Extreme’ Glacier Park fire claims multiple structures near Lake McDonald
We were afraid once we arrived, we would not be able to see anything at all or anything we wanted to do would be closed. In the area, there was a constant haze with thicker smoke clouds above. One could barely see the sun most of the time.
We had one or two days of high winds where most of smoke clouds were blown away and some of views we had hoped for appeared. Some folks were unable to go outside or stay due to the impact of the smoke on their health. Luckily, we were less impacted and we went out for about 5 to 6 hours a day.
We had to drive an extra 50 miles each way to get around the closed roads to see the other side of the park. Some of the lakes were closed but, luckily, not all of them. We were able to kayak in some lakes and found it to be a very surreal experience. While kayaking on the lakes, you couldn’t see the end of the lake and it was very quiet. We did little to no hiking due to the smoke and the impact it could potentially have to our health.
We hope to be able to return some time in the future to be able to see the majestic snow covered mountains there.
