Grinnell Glacier Trail closed after second bear attack of the season at Glacier National Park
Grinnell Glacier Trail closed after second bear attack this season as grizzlies and hikers collide in Glacier's high country
The Grinnell Glacier Trail, one of Glacier National Park's most popular hikes, has been closed indefinitely following a second bear attack this season. A hiker was injured near the trail's junction with the Highline Trail on June 14, marking the second grizzly encounter in the Many Glacier area in less than three weeks. The closure extends from the trailhead to Grinnell Lake and includes all connecting routes through the valley.
This isn't a statistical anomaly. It's June in grizzly country, and the bears are exactly where you'd expect them to be: on trails that follow berry patches, avalanche chutes, and the lush corridors between glacial lakes. The park has closed six trails so far this season, all in high-elevation zones where snowmelt and early-summer vegetation concentrate both wildlife and hikers into the same narrow valleys.
Glacier National Park
More trail miles than most states have highways / Grizzly encounters double in June
Glacier draws more than three million visitors a year, and most of them arrive between late June and early September with Grinnell Glacier on their itinerary. The 10.6-mile trail climbs past turquoise lakes to a shrinking ice field that's lost more than 80 percent of its mass since the park was established in 1910. It's spectacular, accessible, and precisely the kind of backcountry corridor where grizzlies dig for glacier lily bulbs and marmots in early summer. Rangers have been warning hikers for years: if you're going to see a bear in Glacier, it'll probably be on this trail or one like it.
June is when the park's two constituencies overlap: grizzlies emerging from dens and hikers eager to beat the July crowds.
The closure affects more than just Grinnell. The Many Glacier area, one of the park's most concentrated hiking zones, now has limited access to its signature routes. Iceberg Lake remains open, but it's seeing shoulder-to-shoulder traffic on weekends as displaced hikers look for alternatives. Hidden Lake Overlook near Logan Pass is still accessible, but the parking lot fills by 7 AM. The park's size usually absorbs the crowds, but when half a dozen trails close simultaneously, the remaining options compress fast.
The park requires groups of four or more on some trails during bear season, and rangers recommend carrying bear spray on every hike, not just backcountry routes. Both attacks this season involved solo hikers or pairs who surprised bears at close range. The injured hiker on June 14 deployed bear spray, which likely prevented a worse outcome, but the encounter still resulted in injuries serious enough to require evacuation by helicopter.
Grizzly populations in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem have rebounded since the 1970s, when fewer than 300 bears remained. Current estimates put the population at more than 1,000, and the densest concentrations overlap with Glacier's trail network. This is a conservation success story, but it means you're sharing the park with apex predators who don't distinguish between designated wilderness and your Instagram itinerary.
If you're planning a June trip to Glacier, recalibrate your expectations. The Grinnell Glacier Trail might reopen by late summer, or it might stay closed until first snow. The park doesn't operate on a fixed schedule when it comes to wildlife closures. Rangers assess conditions weekly, and they prioritize safety over access. That means your backup plan needs a backup plan.
Alternative routes exist, but they require more effort. The Highline Trail to Granite Park Chalet stays open most years, though it skirts the same avalanche slopes that attract grizzlies. Gunsight Pass to Jackson Glacier offers similar glacial views without the crowds, but it's a 15-mile round trip with significant elevation gain. The easiest substitution is Hidden Lake Overlook, a three-mile round trip that delivers alpine scenery without the backcountry commitment, though you'll be hiking with half the park's daily visitors.
The closures also affect families. Many Glacier was designed as a hub for shorter, accessible hikes, and when those routes shut down, there aren't many kid-friendly alternatives nearby. Swiftcurrent Lake offers a flat loop with mountain views, and the Trail of the Cedars near Avalanche Creek on the west side of the park provides an easy boardwalk through old-growth forest. But neither delivers the payoff of standing at the edge of a glacier, watching ice calve into a milky lake.
Weather compounds the challenge. June is technically late spring in Glacier, and snowpack lingers on high-elevation trails well into the month. Going-to-the-Sun Road, the park's primary artery, usually opens by mid-June, but that depends on plowing conditions. Even when the road is passable, trails at Logan Pass and above can remain buried under several feet of snow. The result is a narrow window where trails are accessible but not yet mobbed by peak-season crowds, and this year, bears are tightening that window further.
The park isn't closing trails to inconvenience you. It's closing them because grizzlies have established feeding patterns in those corridors, and relocating a bear rarely works. The animals return to the same zones year after year, drawn by the same seasonal food sources. When a trail closure stretches into weeks, it's because the alternative is a dead bear or a dead hiker, and the park has decided neither is acceptable.