Many Glacier Campground

It so hard to get a campsite at Many Glacier. We have so many wonderful memories tent camping in Glacier over 30+ years so if I am able to get a campsite here I’m so grateful even if it means I have to sleep in my vehicle due to recent bear activity. We all need to do our part to keep this and other parks pristine so if you see litter please pick it up and do your best to leave no trace.

First night was great. Second night, not great.
Bear got into someone’s vehicle so it was hard shell camping only and we had to leave.

Couldn't ask for a better location of the campground and felt very lucky to pick up last minute cancellations. Was bummed that Swiftcurrent closed down the coin-operated showers so we had no shower options in the area, but that's not in the campground's control. Great 5 nights of camping in a beautiful area overall.

We have been coming to GNP for almost 40 years and Many Glacier CG is by far the best location in the park for accessing some of the best and most hiking trails. However, access to the Many Glacier CG is a challenge for several reasons. The long access road on the far east side of the park, from the Blackfoot reservation, is being rebuilt and long delays are common. Even when not under construction this road is challenging, and a lot further from St. Mary's than it looks on the map. Leave early or don't be in a hurry. Also, this part of the park is not subject to the traffic limits now imposed on the Going to the Sun Road, so visitors looking for alternatives are coming here in mass quantities (but from where I can't figure), so the Grinnell Glacier and other trail heads are packed by 9 am. Good luck finding parking or a quiet trail experience. Sigh. Also, we noticed that the reservation only camping availability at the Many Glacier CG creates many unoccupied sites, where visitors were either no-shows, or left early (as was our case). There doesn't seem to be a good system in place to in-fill the empty spots, since everything must go thru the Recreation.gov reservation site, and real-time updates of empty or vacated sites, to those looking for camping, isn't working very well, especially since cell service is mostly non-existent in this area. Even if you were looking and waiting for a cancellation on Recreation.gov (or a no-show), I don't see how the mechanics would work to best use the unoccupied sites. This needs to be improved somehow, since it is so sad to see these sites go unused, when there is an angry mob waiting at the gates (so to speak). Maybe go back to the old 50% first-come first-serve sites for this campground, after the pandemic. This has it's own problems with wanna-be campers trolling around every day waiting to pounce on the campers that appear to be packing up. Maybe a lottery system for stand-by campers, or something more fair.

Many Glacier Campground puts you in the wilderness. The trails are right there and can be challenging. Bear, moose and sheep can be all around.
Its an adventure.

During this trip, we stayed at three different sites on two reservations. The first site sits lower than the surrounding ground. During a thunderstorm, one tent was flooded. In addition, the nearest women’s bathroom had no working lights at all. The second and third sites were OK. NPS needs to upgrade these facilities and add more comfort stations like kitchen sinks and hot shower.

Amazing setting! Our short camper van fit easily into our space. Convenient dump station and water refill right there. So dark so quiet so lovely. The drive into the park was under construction so it took a bit longer to get there. We went the last days of August/first days of September 2021

The most important thing I have to say is, "Book Early!" It was a miracle that in the middle of the night, when I was checking the reservations for the millionth time, a tent site opened up for us. Without hesitating, I booked one of the two days that popped up. Within about an hour, I noticed the second day was snatched up too.

The campsite was a little difficult to find in the dark, but once we got there it was nice. The whole campground felt cramped, but it was quiet. The bathrooms were typical camp bathrooms, but the graffiti in the stall was actually polite, with sayings like, "You are loved," and "You are awesome."

There was a traffic delay in and out of the Many Glacier area (which we were warned about), but if you're going to get stuck in traffic, Glacier is the place to do it.

Perfect campground for hiking in Glacier. Everyone working there is very helpful. Loved having the Swiftcurrent store and the restaurant available for the evening we didn’t want to cook in the rain. Only improvement that would be really nice is if they added a place to take a shower.

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