Once you are there on the 5th you can easily get another of the non reservable sites for the following nights.Wen wrote:KAO is $125 a night. Booked the 5th at St. Mary. I will keep checking for cancellations or go early on the 6th for walk-up.
$125.00/night at KOA St Mary??? For a tent site???? That has to be a cabin though, right?Wen wrote:KAO is $125 a night. Booked the 5th at St. Mary. I will keep checking for cancellations or go early on the 6th for walk-up.
Jen,Jen wrote:When I stayed at the KOA in 2011, the tent sites were around $50/night. Still WAY overpriced IMO for an open NO privacy site. What I remember from that stay was being sprayed in the face with AquaNet™ while washing my hands in the bathroom. A different crowd altogether at the KOA.
Wen wrote:Pete, $125 is for the cabin. I only saw for 2 people, so clicked on it. KOA campsite is $48+. Johnson $29+. I read some reviews, and people seemed to like Johnson over KOA.
KOA has some nice facilities like pool, hot tub, nice showers, a small store, and more. However, it can be noisey and some camp sites arevery open or get muddy like one i had down by the river one time. Just not worth the price imo.
We want to hike below. Is driving from St Mary to below trails the best option ?
Personally, I would prefer to "base" in St Mary to do all my day hiking on the East side...but then I live here so enjoying the experience of the various GNP campgrounds doesn't interest me too much anymore.
However, I understand why many visitors would want to stay at park CGs at Swiftcurrent an Two Med for hikes in those areas.
St Mary is very centrally located for hikes. It's about 30-40 minutes from Swiftcurrent. Logan Pass is abiut 30 minutes also. Two Med is farther- close to an hour from St Mary. Nice camp ground at Two Med for doing Daw-Pit lop trail.
A night at Two Medicine would be nice.
Two Medicine: Dawson Pass, Pitamakan Pass. Again, I like the St Mary area, be it KOA, Johnson's(my preference), St Mary CG, or even Rising Sun CG in the park. But as I said, many visitors will want to stay " in the park" proper.
Driving over to the West Side to do Avalanche and Mt Brown is not bad at all, IF you leave early in the AM and beat the bad traffic. The West to East is not bad at all early. Most traffic will be going W-E.
The day hikesyou picked are good ones too imo.
If more questions, holler
pete
Many Glacier: Grinnell Glacier, Swiftcurrent Pass, Iceberg Lake
Logan Pass: Highline Loop (or Trail)
Lake McDonald: Mt. Brown Lookout, Avalanche Lake
It's not clear if this is your plan, but definitely combine these into a loop (the Dawson-Pitamakan Loop) - the best part is the 4-mile ridge walk in between the two passes. It's 18 miles and tough, but doable. Of course, you are going pretty early in the season, so I'm not sure the trails will be completely melted out yet.Wen wrote: Two Medicine: Dawson Pass, Pitamakan Pass
You can also combine these pretty easily. 15 miles RT, but would require you to use the shuttle system since it isn't a loop. Again, this is if the Highline is open while you're there.Wen wrote: Many Glacier: Swiftcurrent Pass
Logan Pass: Highline Loop (or Trail)