A Glacier National Park worker posted a PSA on TikTok sharing a crucial step you have to make before you can enter a National Park this summer.
Anna (@annabrooksk) has gained over 725,100 views on her video as of this writing. She added an on-screen caption that says, “POV: trying to go to a popular national park in the summer.”
Anna formatted her video in two separate parts, acting as both a visitor to the national park and as herself, an employee. She talks back and forth to herself in cut-up clips to give a visual explanation of what an interaction would be like when a visitor makes it to the entrance of the park.
First, while acting as a park visitor, Anna says, “OK, I have my park pass. I paid $80 for it. May I please go into the national park?”
Anna responds, “Of course, welcome to Glacier.” She then demonstrates the visitor driving a few steps before being stopped.
What’s the problem?
“I paid to get in,” she says as the visitor. “What now?”
Anna explains that in order to get through the second checkpoint, the visitor needed to make a vehicle reservation “nine months ago.”
“Well, I planned my trip eight months ago, so what do I do?” the visitor continues. Anna says the next step would be to drive to one of the park’s additional entrances that don’t require a vehicle reservation.
She tells the hypothetical visitor that for the other three entrances, one is located two hours away, another is three hours away, and the last location is in Canada.
If the visitor does not want to travel those distances, Anna says the next option is to “enter the park before 6am or after 3pm.”
“So basically, you either won’t sleep, or the park is going to be completely full, and you won’t be able to get a parking space anywhere,” Anna adds.
Another option to get into the park is to “rent a boat,” Anna says. She explains that if the visitor were to rent a boat from two exact locations provided by the park, they would then be able to enter the reservation zone without a reservation.
“OK, great. I’ll just do that,” Anna says as the visitor. However, the worker then remarks, “Too bad. They all sold out six months ago.”
Acting as the visitor, she asks one more time, “What do I do?”
Anna explains that a visitor can log into the Glacier National Park website at “6:59pm … and then pray and hope that you get a reservation for tomorrow.”
If this option still doesn’t work, Anna says you can “recreate at the one area of the park that doesn’t require reservation on the west side and torture all of the employees that work there because you didn’t research.”
Anna left a caption on her video that says, “I know it’s annoying but please research and don’t take it out on minimum wage employees.”
@annabrooksk i know its annoying but please research and dont take it out on minimum wage employees ‼️ #fyp #glaciernationalpark #nationalpark #parks #government ♬ original sound – Anna
Why do visitors need vehicle reservations?
“This was a very valuable psa, thank you,” a viewer told Anna in the comments section of her video.
“Just do your research!” another exclaimed. “They tell you all over every website you need a reservation. Keeps the parks safe.”
According to the National Park Service, vehicle reservations are required at Glacier National Park from May 24 through Sept. 8 from 6am to 3pm.
Visitors entering the park in a vehicle or on a motorcycle during these dates need two things, “A vehicle reservation OR service reservation and (2) Park Entrance Fee OR valid Park Pass (Annual, Senior, Military, etc.),” the site continues. “The park is open 24/7 and visitors may enter vehicle reservation areas before 6 am or after 3 pm without a vehicle reservation.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Anna via TikTok direct message and the National Park Service via email.
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