Glacier National Park - Camping

I live in Whitefish and work in Glacier next summer. Are you wanting backcountry or drive in? Apgar is the closest to West Glacier/Main Entrance. Just look at a park map and pick a spot. Glacier is one of the best hiking parks in the system. If you have a car be sure to go to Many Glacier area and hike Grinnell Glacier. It's strenuous but only 12 miles round trip. Other cool hikes are Dawson Pass (continental divide hike out of Two Med), Highline (most popular trail right off Going-To-The-Sun road, Logan Pass area), and Avalanche (really short popular two mile hike). If you wanna see wildlife the Many and Two Med areas are your best bet, although big horns, marmots, and mountain goats frequent Logan Pass. With that being said, grizzlies and black bears are known to cover the entire park.

As for water, white water rafting is huge here in the summer. There are several outfitters that offer guided trips. My friend worked at Glacier Guides last summer and I was able to get on with them and it was awesome! The Flathead is a great spot to raft.

We also have our fair share of cheesy tourist stuff, like bumper cars, zip lining, mini golf, Montanas largest water park etc

Be sure to check out Polebridge and the North Fork on the west side of the park. There's an awesome bakery and merc with the best bear claws and cinnamon rolls you've ever eaten. You can drive into Glacier from here as well,one of the less traveled parts due to the proximity to town. You can do Bowman and Kintla lakes here. Great Lake hikes that are relatively flat, but great scenery off in the distance. You can rent a kayak or canoe for a couple days from Sportsman Ski Haus (locations in Whitefish and Kalispell) to get on the lake. If you want a more remote and quiet feel to camp, this may be the area you choose. Apgar and Avalanche, etc are always super crowded in the summer. Nonetheless, all campgrounds fill up quickly so I would start looking sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer: the roads to Bowman and Kintla Lakes are rough, meaning don't drive a luxury car through here. It's not paved and there are tons of dips and holes on the drive. Same goes for the North Fork up to Polebridge. It's not paved up to a certain point and the roads are rough.

Sticky worthy.... will add. Thanks!

Thanks!

Definitely looking into the backcountry camping spots, would rather be in a more private setting.

The one that stuck out was the Many Galcier area, seems to have nice spots near lakes to set up shop for a night or two and then move on and double back when we're finished.

Ah, Hitler's ole stomping grounds.

Many Glacier is my favorite campground in the world. We've done it twice, a week each time. But I can't stress enough that you need to get there as early in the morning as humanly possible. The last time we were there the demand was MUCH greater than supply. On one day mid week literally nobody left. And I really do mean "literally". So have a fall back plan just in case. There is a lot of wildlife around Many Glacier (Moose, Brown Bear, Black Bear...) and plenty of hiking options. As mentioned, if the trail is open Grinnell Glacier is a great hike. Iceberg Lake is really good too. You should definitely drive over Logan pass at some point and do a hike at the top (Hidden Lake is short, Garden Wall is longer); very good chance of seeing bighorn sheep and mountain goats at Logan pass (especially very early or late in the day).