My trip to Glacier National Park was derailed by one frustrating error. A park expert explains how to avoid making the same mistake.

• I tried planning a trip to Montana's Glacier National Park with my parents in June.
• I didn't realize how challenging it would be to get a reservation, and we never got into the park.

Earlier this year, I began thinking about planning a trip with my parents to Glacier National Park, a vast and awe-inspiring park in the northwest corner of my home state, Montana.

I thought biking Going-to-the-Sun Road, a roughly 50-mile route open seasonally, could be fun. For just a few weeks before it fully opens to cars — typically sometime in June — bikers can enjoy the scenic road without competing for space with vehicles and tour buses.

Having grown up in Montana, I'm familiar with the park; I've been a handful of times, never with any major issues. But as I sat down to plan my trip in March this year, I realized this experience wouldn't be like the others.

Three months before I was hoping to go, reservations were already sold out. Unbeknownst to me, vehicle reservations went on sale in February, four months ahead of Glacier's primary tourist season, and had long since been snapped up. But because more tickets go on sale at 8 a.m. for the following day, my parents and I planned our trip anyways, banking on scoring some tickets at the last minute.

We packed, drove four hours to a friend's house near the park, and tried to buy tickets the day before our intended visit. Again, they were sold out. With foolish optimism and encouragement from a few locals, we set out for the park the next day, thinking maybe, with a stroke of luck, we could buy tickets at the entrance.

It was a no-go.

Even though I planned ahead, I didn't realize it wasn't enough time. To help other visitors avoid making the same mistake, I spoke with Lucy Beighle, Glacier Country Tourism's director of communications, about planning a flawless trip to the park.

Plan your visit at least four months in advance, if possible

What I thought was early is very late when planning a trip to Glacier National Park. And even though tickets for the park go on sale four months earlier, reservations for accommodations should be booked even further in advance, Beighle said.

"In general, if you want to guarantee a stay at one of the lodges, then I would do it a year in advance," Beighle said, referring to the several classic lodges inside the park. "Then four months for the vehicle reservations."

You can enter the park before 6 a.m. or wait until after 3 p.m. to get in without a reservation

Looking back, this would have been the surefire way of getting into the park without a reservation. Had we known further ahead of time, we could have arrived a few hours earlier or waited about a few hours longer, skirting the reservation requirement.

To our credit, Beighle pointed out that the National Park Service's website has improved immensely since we tried using it earlier this year, and is now far more user-friendly than the last time I checked.

That's partly due to feedback the park was getting, Beighle said, and partly due to the questions her office was fielding. Now, the park has a streamlined graphic for how to get in — and showing up early or late is one way to do it.

If you have an activity booked in the park, you don't need a vehicle permit

Visitors who've already booked an activity in the park, like rafting, horseback riding, or staying in one of its lodges, don't need to have one of the vehicle reservations, Beighle said.

While we didn't have any of these in-park activities booked, it's another helpful way to get into the park for other visitors.

Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help

According to Beighle, this is the first year the park has required a vehicle registration to enter the park. Before 2023, vehicle reservations were only needed for Going-to-the-Sun Road, a decision that was made in 2020 to help curb overcrowding. As such, the ticketing process has had a fairly steep learning curve.

"They're constantly working on it. People don't necessarily see that — all they see is, 'We've gotta jump through all these hoops.'"

That almost exactly sums up how my parents and I felt when trying to get into the park earlier. Beighle suggested using Glacier Country Tourism's help hotline, which can answer visitors' questions online or over the phone — a service I wish we knew about.