There are a handful of National Parks on the CDT that require permits for overnight backcountry camping, and one of those happens to be at the start of CDT if you are hiking North to South, which is Glacier National Park. The remaining two are Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Park.
Glacier National Park opened their wilderness permit lottery registration on 15 March 2024 at 12:00 a.m. Mountain Time, which equates to 2:00 a.m. on the east coast if you’re waking up eager to register as we did. We currently have a set itinerary of particular backcountry sites we would like to camp at during our time in Glacier, so ideally, we will be able to reserve these sites in advance. The open lottery is an opportunity to be selected for a date and time group in the near future which would allow us the freedom to hopefully select our particular itinerary online, without having to use the general public open registration timeline or the walk-in permit option.
The following information was copied from Recreation.gov for your situational awareness.
Permit & Season Information
In order to preserve the extraordinary wilderness character of Glacier National Park, a Wilderness Permit is required year-round for all overnight trips in the backcountry. A Wilderness Permit allows the permit holder and their group (up to 8 people for advance reservations) to camp in wilderness campsites and is valid only for the dates, locations, and party size indicated. Your permit must be in your possession while in the wilderness.
- For trips between June 15th and September 30th, 70% of wilderness campsites may be reserved in advance. See below for details.
- Remaining sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis in person at a Wilderness Permit office no more than one day before the trip begins.
- Campsites that melt out before June 15th will be made available for advance reservations on recreation.gov
- Please see the Winter Wilderness Camping webpage for information on how to obtain a wilderness permit between November 1st and April 30th.
| Dates | Information |
| March 1, 2024 – March 1, 2024 | Large group lottery (9-12 campers) 12:00 am – 11:59 pm MT – Lottery applications accepted for groups of 9 to 12 people open for trips between June 15th through September 30th. For complete details, check out the Glacier NP Wilderness Camping/Advance Reservations page. |
| March 15, 2024 – March 15, 2024 | Standard group lottery (1-8 campers) 12:00 am – 11:59 pm MT – Lottery applications accepted for groups of 1 to 8 people open for trips between June 15th through September 30th. For complete details, check out the Glacier NP Wilderness Camping/Advance Reservations page. |
| May 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024 | General on-sale period – Wilderness Permits available online or in person on a first come first served basis. |
| September 28, 2024 | Advance Reservations not available until next year. |
| October 1, 2024 – October 31, 2024 | Wilderness Permits only available in person on a first-come, first-served basis. |
| November 1, 2024 – April 30, 2024 | Winter Camping Permits/Regulations |
Click the image below to visit the Glacier National Park permit site on Recreation. Gov.
