If beautiful and wild Northwest Montana is on your bucket list or if you haven’t visited in years, you will discover that it is no longer a secret getaway. Though many visitors get there by various modes of transportation, increasing numbers of RVers are visiting rapidly filling up campgrounds and RV parks, a trend showing high demand for campsites.
Summer is the busiest time of year for the Flathead Valley and surrounding areas, due to the incredible magnetism of the landscape and the welcoming and laid-back ethos of mountain culture, writes Molly Priddy in the Flathead Beacon.
“We are full. We’re even having a busier spring and fall season,” said Faith Bengtson, assistant manager at the West Glacier KOA campground. “It is crazy; it’s full every day, and we’re turning people away.”
It’s not just the West Glacier KOA that saw this trend working its way to Montana. Since 2008, Flathead County has approved multiple RV park projects on its zoned land, adding at least 143 spaces.
Residents raised concerns about the new campground, saying it could add even more traffic in an already bottlenecked area, increase pollution, and have negative impacts on safety and wildlife.
In Glacier National Park, more than 556,000 people visited in June, resulting in 76,411 overnight stays during the month. Of those stays, nearly 48,000 were in campgrounds maintained by the National Park Service. And of those campers, more than half were in RVs.
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The following is from the Glacier Park website:
Vehicle Size Restrictions
Vehicles, and vehicle combinations, longer than 21 feet (including bumpers) or wider than 8 feet (including mirrors), are prohibited between Avalanche Campground and the Rising Sun picnic area parking. Vehicle and vehicle combinations over 10 feet in height may have difficulty driving west from Logan Pass to the Loop, due to rock overhangs. Stock trucks and trailers are able to access Packers Roost on the west, and Siyeh Bend on the east.
https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/gtsrinfo.htm