Possible reservation system at Many Glacier campground ...

[pitamakan]

Thought some of you guys would be interested in this press release from the Park Service today:

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Increased Fee and Some Reservations Proposed at Many Glacier Campground

Public Comments Encouraged

WEST GLACIER, MT. – Public comments are encouraged on a proposal to increase the nightly fee and allow some reservations at the Many Glacier Campground in Glacier National Park. It will provide an opportunity for visitors to plan their trip to Many Glacier with knowledge of a secured campsite.

The proposal is to increase the nightly camping fee from $20 to $23 per campsite, and allow for site-specific reservations at approximately half of the campsites through the National Recreation Reservation System. The increase in fees would off-set the service charge of the reservation service provider and would be applied to the entire campground. It is proposed that the new fees and opportunity to reserve a campsite would begin next summer, June 2014.

Currently, the Many Glacier Campground is managed as a completely first-come first-served campground. The campground is popular, filling every day in the summer by mid-to-late morning. The park would allow site-specific reservations at approximately half of the campsites, while the other half of the campground would remain first-come, first-served. There are 109 sites at the Many Glacier Campground. Individuals who hold a senior or access pass through the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Program would continue to receive a 50-percent discount on camping fees charged at the campground.

Two campgrounds at Glacier National Park, St. Mary and Fish Creek Campgrounds, have reservations available with a nightly fee of $23.

Public comments on this proposal should be submitted by March 6, 2013. An on-line form is available at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/ManyGlacierCampgroundFees. Comments may be also be submitted through the mail to Glacier National Park, Attention: Many Glacier Campground Fee Rate Increase, PO Box 128, West Glacier, MT 59936.

-NPS-

[toddnick]

Hmmm...

I spend about 60% of my time at Glacier in MG Campground (over 50 nights since 2008)...

This would be convenient but would take away from the adventure involved in getting a site...

[debbyn]

I'd gladly pay to forgo the stress of trying to jockey for a sight at Many Glacier.

[Jeff E]

I sure hope they don't do this.

I have camped at the St Mary campground on a few occasions. Due to the entrance and reservation process, getting in and out of the campground during the evening hours is very difficult. Traffic becomes very congested due to the time required to get new campers registered. I would hate to see long lines of cars trying to get into the MG campground.

I find it hard to beleive that an additional $3 would make up the cost of implementing the reservation system as well has covering the cost of buildiing an entrance booth and manning it for most of the day.

I am concerned that due to popularity of the Many Glacier campground that the reservable sites would be all be taken as soon as the reservation process begins. This would be especially true during the peak summer months of July and August. Getting a site at MG could become as difficult getting a reservation at Sperry or Granite Park Chalets.

[Hockey Ref]

Having never camped at Many Glacier, I'm curious as to what people do if they get shut out. Where do most people end up?

It's certainly a long drive over a bad road, both directions, for basically nothing if you can't secure a site.

[July Guy]

Well, used to be we could leave Kalispell and get a spot any time before noon. And we had choices of sites. Then It became tougher, so we started reserving at St. Mary and ‘jumping up’ there the next morning. Then, a couple years ago we left St. Mary and got the very last site in the campground at 7:45. That year there was a lot of talk from rangers, basically urging people to stay away because of fighting between campers, people removing tags and stealing sites etc. And they were right- it really was that bad.

Last year we skipped MG altogether, and I don’t see us going back in peak season, to camp anyway. Reservations is a nice idea, but Jeff makes a great point- if 50% of the sites are taken well before a person arrives to the park, the chances of getting a site would be much, much lower. I’ve camped in three places that take reservations: Fish Creek (bad experience), St. Mary (went smoothly, nice site), and Yellowstone (sucked).

So, I dunno. If they start taking reservations, I think it will be a mess. Of course it’s a mess now.

[pitamakan]

Yep, though I don't camp over there it's pretty obvious that the situation is a mess now ... but I don't know that it will be any less of a mess under the proposed plan. If the Park Service is going to institute a reservation system over there, they need to do it for the entire campground; otherwise, the battles for the unreserved sites are just going to get uglier.

Bottom line: in July and August there are just way too many people in that little valley. The campsite crunch is just one symptom of that much larger problem.

[toddnick]

I don't think it is as bad at MG Campground as the posts above seem to represent it, if you plan ahead.

I always get a night at a Swiftcurrent Cabin the night before camping at MG Campground. This allows me to wait until daylight and grab the site of someone packing out. I have never had this system fail. Not difficult, not expensive (Cabins are pretty cheap for one night), and non-trouble causing...I have also never been bothered by or really noticed people "trolling" for campsites in the morning when I am staying there...

The only actual trouble I had was last September when someone tried to take the site that I had reserved with a ticket in the morning but left unoccupied all day...that was pretty easily remedied by the campground host...

Overall, considering the number of times I've stayed at MG Campground (I tend to start and end each vacation at MG Campground and stay other places in the middle) and the total number of nights....I don't find it to be a problem campground...it is my favorite place to stay at Glacier (along with Sperry Chalet)...

I have been there in July for a week (prime season) and several times in September (but even in September, the campground is full many days by 10 AM)...

I'd prefer to keep the system the way that it is...

[Jay w]

Yeah, I've seen it get worse each year and we almost got skunked last year at something like 8 or 8:30 am. The problem with reservations, is I believe it leads to empty sites since people's plans change or they don't mind paying for an extra night just so they have options. They never mentioned the idea of just making it $25 or 30 a night and see if supply and demand economics works.

Jay

[wnysteve]

The only actual trouble I had was last September when someone tried to take the site that I had reserved with a ticket in the morning but left unoccupied all day...that was pretty easily remedied by the campground host...

...

I remeber that incident, Todd. I must say you kept your cool in the face of an aggravating situation.

[Selkie]

I am not convinced a reservation system for half the sites would address the situation, or not fully, for some reserved sites would inevitably be unoccupied, the CG thus serving lower numbers overall.
I could see a tent-only primitive CG opened up, even a walk-in primitive CG.

I hope those who have strong feelings one way or the other do take the time to write a response.

[Jay w]

...that's a point. How about no RVs (trailers) of any type. (And we've been looking on a small one.) I like that idea.

Jay

[pitamakan]

...that's a point. How about no RVs (trailers) of any type. (And we've been looking on a small one.) I like that idea.

Jay

There was actually a time (quite a few years ago) when the MG campground was restricted to hard-sided camping units only, due to bear proximity. Avalanche was once the same way.

The park knows that the Many Glacier area is already over-utilized ... I think there's almost no chance they'll add more camping spaces. But if they reduce the number of unreserved sites at Many it makes it much harder for people without campground reservations, since alternate park/forest campsites are so far away. Someone who gets to Many a little too late will probably find St. Mary fully reserved and Rising Sun full ... which means their closest shot at a campground is an hour away.

There would definitely be a market for a safe, high-quality private campground in the Babb area to take up more of the overflow ... but I don't think that's too likely, either.

[Hockey Ref]

Wasn't there a period of time some years ago when the campground was encircled by a tall fence due to bear activity? I seem to recall something like that.

[pitamakan]

Wasn't there a period of time some years ago when the campground was encircled by a tall fence due to bear activity? I seem to recall something like that.

Yeah, that's right ... I'd forgotten about that. It wasn't the whole campground, but there was a chain-link fence area called the bear cage, where people sleeping in tents could lock themselves in for the night. I think it was a fairly small area, just intended for a few tents. That would have been back in the 80s or 90s.