For outdoor adventure, nothing compares to Glacier National Park. While most popular national parks like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone require campground reservations months or even years in advance, Glacier is one of the few to offer both reserved and first-come, first-served campgrounds, so you can find a place to stay, even if you don’t plan your RV camping trip in advance.
Whether fishing, hiking, biking or boating, you’ll enjoy incredible outdoor activities on your Glacier National Park RV camping trip, as well as historical attractions like 10,000-year-old archeological finds. You can even drive across the Continental Divide. But regardless of what brings you here, your Glacier National Park RV camping trip is sure to leave you captivated.
Open every day of the year, you can go RV camping at Glacier National Park any season you choose. While most visitors head to the park for fun summer vacations, wintertime brings glittering snowfall and incredible silence to the park. When planning Glacier National Park RV camping, check with the official Glacier National Park Web site for weather updates, service information and other advice.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: TIPS FOR RV CAMPING AT GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
- Don’t expect frills. First and foremost, Glacier is a wilderness park. RVs are welcome, but water, sewer and electricity hookups are not available at any campgrounds within the park. The park also limits generator usage to two-hour increments during the mornings, afternoons and evenings. Designed to maximize the park’s soothing silence, these restrictions allow ample time for cooking and bathing, but will limit your amenity usage. Before you go RV camping at Glacier National Park, ensure you’re prepared for these restrictions. If not, we recommend you stay in a nearby full-service RV park instead. Try Mountain Meadow RV Park in Hungry Horse, Montana, around 10 minutes from Glacier’s entrance.
- Research your preferred campgrounds. Once inside the park, you’ll want to know in advance which campgrounds to visit – and which to avoid. St. Mary and Fish Creek both allow reservations via the National Recreation Reservation Service, but the others – which total over 1,000 that you can drive to – are first-come, first-served. Some of the most popular are Many Glacier, Avalanche Creek and Apgar.
- Show up early. If you didn’t reserve a campsite in advance, don’t worry - but do get there early. Many of the park’s best campgrounds fill up quickly, so getting there before the prior night’s campers check out is mandatory. If you can’t make it early, make sure you’ve thought of a back-up plan, such as a local RV park outside of Glacier.
- Plan ahead for services. Glacier is legendary for its lack of onsite service, so stock up on groceries and other items before entering. If you’re planning a lengthy Glacier National Park RV camping trip, you’ll need plenty of fuel to run the generator a few hours each day. Extra water can be used for drinking, but also to refill your RV’s storage tank should you run low. Thankfully, several towns grace the edge of the park on the popular western side, including Columbia Falls, Hungry Horse and Coram.
- Expect unexpected weather. When packing your suitcase or planning daily activities, expect weather that can change on a dime during your Glacier National Park RV camping trip. Summertime highs can top 90 degrees, but freak snowstorms have also piled eight inches of snow on the region in August. Even if the weather doesn’t reach such extremes during your stay, chances are you’ll see sun, rain and maybe even thunder and lightning during your trip.