glacier camping

[handwerk]

Folks I'm looking for advice for a late june family camping trip to glacier NP. Our kids are in their upper teens and we hope to do some hiking and fishing.
What campground(s) might you recommend?

thanks

 

[DaveC]

I'd avoid the North Fork due to bugs. Big Creek is outside the park on the west side, is quite nice, and the breeze tends to keep the bugs tamped down. The North Fork fishes well, but will probably be a bit high in late June.

The east side of the park will serve you better. Many Glacier is a great area to hike and fish from camp, but the campground itself it crowded and not anything special. I really like the Cut Bank campground, and the lakes up that drainage have decent fish.

June generally is a bit early for ideal fishing. The rivers and creeks tend to be blown out, and the best alpine lakes are still frozen.

 

[Browtinemt]

I would recommend either Rising Sun or St. Mary campgrounds in the park. Both are close to the "middle", meaning a short drive to several worth while hikes. If you're bringing a big rig in and want satellite service and such I believe Apgar is your only option. Way too many yuppies for me, but I won't judge you either way. Short hikes your kids might enjoy would be Avalanche, Virginia Falls and Logan Pass. Longer hikes that I really like are Grinnell Glacier, Ptarmigan Tunnel, and Granite Park Chalet. Waiting for our kids to be older to go back into Goat Haunt as I hear it is amazing. I don't live in the area, so must defer to DaveC with bugs and fishing. June might be tricky, we go in August (this will be 8th consecutive year) and three years ago there was still 8-10 ft drifts of snow on Logan Pass. We brought sleds and the kids (little and grown up) spent a long fun day sledding down the Logan Pass trail to hidden lake. I'm not a Glacier professional, but feel free to pm me if you have any other questions that I might be able to help you with.

 

[Browtinemt]

Oh yeah, GO AVS