St. Mary Campground

[Stromboli]

I am heading to Glacier late summer and will be staying at the St. Mary Campground for one night. According to the national park website, this is one of the only sites you can make a reservation for at Glacier. I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion about which is the best loop and best site to stay on?

[Montana09]

Hi Stromboli -

The northeast sites are more open while the west/southwestern sites are more shaded with taller trees. The open sites overlook the mountains south of St. Mary Lake, however.

You can see a southwest site here:

St. Mary Campground

It's a nice campground. I don't think you will be disappointed with any particualr site. That said, it is IMHO not Glacier's best campground although it's better than most other national park campgrounds.

[kiddoc]

WE stayed at the St. Mary KOA--price almost the same as National Park-- and the benefits of a site just on the river, swimming pool, hot tub, nice showers (free) and the option of a pancake breakfast in the AM.

[Tara]

The NPS St. Mary campground is fine although certainly not among my favorites...but it is nice to be able to reserve a site. The St. Mary KOA is very nice too and does have the other "perks" mentioned above, although except for showers I've never been in camp long enough to take advantage of them! Both have nice settings. I don't have a record of which sites or loops we've stayed at at the NPS St. Mary campground.

[Backpacker1]

So is the KOA St Mary campground in Glacier NP? We are headed there in late August and are looking for a campground to make reservations for a couple of nights.

[llholmes1948]

So is the KOA St Mary campground in Glacier NP? We are headed there in late August and are looking for a campground to make reservations for a couple of nights.

No, there are two separate campgrounds. There is a campground at St. Mary located inside the park which is operated by the Park Service. The KOA campground at St. Mary is located not far away but is outside the Park boundary.

[Backpacker1]

Thank You.

BP1

[perzeetorres]

We visited some friends who chose to stay at the St. Mary Campground just last week. They had reserved A-16, but after staying one night, they chose B-70. A was in the trees... lots of mud and mosquitos. B-70 had great views of the mountains, was near the pump and close enough to restrooms, but not too close... I'll see if I can attach a pic...


ok... seems to be rotated, but wasn't when I uploaded it... I thought the background of this would give a good idea of the brush/views... this is B-70... I anyone can tell me how to rotate it (it looked correct in photobucket) I would appreciate it!

[Stromboli]

thanks for the info everyone!

[Pocketlint]

Nice picture. Pretty nice setting for dinner....I like the looks of that wine too

pocketlint

[kiddoc]

Would agree with the KOA-- nice to have the pool and hot tub after a day of hiking. Price is about the same for a tent site either place. We had a major downpour one AM-- temps in the 50's, 30-35 mph winds and several inches of rain fell that day-- we were lucky enough to be able to move to one of the little camping cabins. Great views of the mountains, right on the river, fly fishing, fairly open and not as much tree cover on that side of the park. We were ther mid July and there were many open spots.