Trip report from 2018, year of the Howe Ridge fire.
Days -n
By summer 2018 I had the itch again. I hadn't been to Glacier since 2012. The Howe Ridge fire was running through the park, putting things in jeopardy.
By early September, I stalked the fire updates and advanced permit availability long enough that I put in for the pieces to build an extended great circle - MAN-ELF-GLH-STO-FIF-FLA-PRE starting the 15th, with intention of adding/substituting SBE-MAN (personal favorite) and FIF-GRN-LPE upon arrival since they weren't available for advanced reservation. I was going solo for the first time, and with the long trip duration I was conservative on the daily mileage. I put in my permit .... waited 3 days and rejected ?! So I called and they agreed it was valid and issued the advance reservation.
Day 0
Arrived in the afternoon to Missoula, drove up just in time make the Lake McDonald ranger station cutoff. They informed me MAN wasn't available and since the start of my trip was 2 days out I couldn't modify the end (deja-vu for 2019). But they advised I could do the hiker/biker at Many Glacier without a permit and just pickup the permit that day or the morning of the next at MAN. I begged them to just give me the permit now knowing that was what I was going to do.... but no such luck. Spent the rest of the night gathering supplies.