Glacier National Park trip, CG recommendations

[270wsmhunter]

Traveling from west central MN to Glacier National Park in August. Planned out stops last night and itinerary looks like this: 1st night Medora, 2nd night Great Falls, nights 3-6 east side of Glacier, nights 7-10 west side of Glacier, 11th night Billings, 12th night Bismarck and home next day.

Started browsing campgrounds last night and looked at the KOAs but at $70+ per night gets expensive. We enjoy state parks but do want electric hookup and ability to dump tanks on way out. Private campgrounds are consideration too as long as it's not a field converted into an RV parking lot. We would also like the ability to have a campfire in the evenings at our own site.

Any and all recommendations are greatly appreciated. Hoping to make some reservations this week.

[MrHavasu]

Good info, thanks all.

[kknowlton]

We did stay at both KOAs (one on each side of Glacier) and you're right, they're pricey. The west side one is much nicer, but a few years ago they cut down almost all the trees - I guess to make those who want their satellite TV to work? Anyway, that was a disappointment to us. That said, we did drive into Mountain Meadow CG and it looked wooded & nice. We'd probably give that a try on a return trip.

The east side of Glacier is not a heavily wooded area; it's where the prairie meets the mountains. Not even a lot of shade in Apgar CG (and of course no hookups). Therefore, you won't find as much choice on the east side. The KOA is well-located, though, quite convenient to the east end of Going to the Sun Road, and to some grocery stores and the visitor center. Didn't check out a lot of other CGs on that side, other than driving thru Apgar.

[rexlion]

The private CG called Glacier, just a couple miles west of the park's W entrance, was nice when I stayed there about 4 years ago. Nice wooded sites.

[2gypsies1]

We always stay IN the park itself - at Apgar. No, there's no electric but there is a dump station. Do you have a generator?

[Alabama_Jim]

I can assure you that Chris's campground in Spearfish, SD is great. Wonderful cable and wifi. Friendly folks and full hook ups. I will visit there again.

[enblethen]

You could look at facilities along your route at this website. We use many Corp of Engineers facilities
US campgrounds

[padredw]

Campgrounds where we stayed:

Detroit Lakes, MN at Country Campground -- very good.

Mandan (Bismark) ND at Lincoln State Park -- gopd

Medora, ND just for overnight

West Glacier, Hungry Horse, MT Mountain Meadows -- excellent

[CloudDriver]

We came home from Yellowstone across North Dakota back in 2014. Places we stayed overnight were:

In Billings - Yellowstone River RV Park - Paid $72 for FHU (won't stay in Billings again!)

In Miles City - Miles City KOA - Paid $38 for W/E

In Dickinson ND - North Park Campground - Paid $33 for FHU (lots of oil field worker families there at the time, but probably not so much now)

In Jamestown ND - Jamestown Campground - Paid $34 for W/E

There is also a campground with electric sites at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park just south of Bismark. We didn't stay there, just visited the Fort.

[enblethen]

You are wishful thinking on the east side.
You would have better luck looking around the many in West Glacier.