A ranger at Glacier told me to flip my route direction and skip the west side, I argued with him, he was right

Nathan Hayes · 2026-10-08T04:55:04.390298+00:00

Back in August I mapped out a 4 day loop starting from the west entrance because the permit was easier to grab online, and a ranger at the backcountry desk told me straight up that I would regret it with afternoon storms rolling in off the ridge. I ignored him for the first two days, got hailed on twice above the treeline and ate mud on a washed out switchback, then flipped the whole thing and had the smoothest day 4 of my life. So now I want to know, does anyone else plan routes around storm timing instead of mileage, and how do you figure that out before you even get to the trailhead?

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A ranger at Glacier told me to flip my route direction and skip the west side, I argued with him, he was right | Backpacking Routes - Chatter Central