West Shore Campground

We came to this campground on a recommendation from someone who told us this was a fantastic park, but we thought it was just ok.

The pluses - it is walking distance to lakeshore - and Flathead Lake is wonderful. The cute town of Lakeside is close by with a brewery, a coffee shop and small swimming beach. We did have some cell signal - it was patchy but after a week at Glacier National Park it was like an oasis in the desert.

The minuses - very few sites have water views. All of A-loop is off the water and is separated from it by private property. B-loop claims to have some water views, but they're the kind of views a real estate would try and convince you are worth paying for - when you know you they are really not. Some sites in A-loop (not our part) are quite close to the highway too.

Most of the sites are reservable, the FCFS sites were tiny - too small for us. We manged to get a reservable site for a couple of nights, before the weekenders cam in.

I think the cost for this location was not really worth it. You pay extra for being non-resident and there is a reservation fee (Grrrr!). Although if we had stayed for more than 3 nights an annual pass would have given us some savings.

We enjoyed our stay here. Our site was about 40 feet long and wide enough to park our truck next to the trailer (triple slides). There was a 50 amp hookup, fire ring/grill, and picnic table. This area is pricey and we went ahead and bought the nonresident annual pass to avoid the daily fees. A few OTA channels and decent Verizon service. A view of the lake and an additional tent pad area should you need it. Not that many sites so it doesn't feel crowded. Only real downside is no dump area.

A loop - just say no!

I know it is best to make a compliment sandwich -- so let's start with the fact that this area is BEAUTIFUL. And if you stay in the B Loop, you can enjoy some peek-a-boo views right from your rig, as well as power and even cell service. However, our experience was a little different...

Upon arrival, we discovered a very very tight spot - as in a few inches to either side and we would not have been able to open up our slides due to trees. Of course, that paled in comparison to the block action required to level us out. Thankfully we have an advanced degree in blocks, survived the back-in (with only minimal yelling, cussing and frightening the neighbors). It is very tight between road, with rocks and short markers that are the perfect height to catch on the wheels and rig skirts, but unseeable from inside.

We actually had 5 blocks under each leveler and 4 under each tire. We towered up there on our front end!

After doing our own pruning with a borrowed pair of clippers, we managed to get a path all the way around our RV and were able to access all the bins.

Several friends have stayed there and raved about the experience. Well, they must have been in the B loop. We had little to no cell/internet service, even with boosting. Close to the highway noise (which really wasn't that bad) and a long walk from the lake. No power in the A Loop or view of the lake.

Our cell service was poor - about 1 bar unboosted and able to boost to 2 bars. But it varied throughout the day - decent in the early morning and spotty in the afternoon/evening.

The plus side - water was across from us and the host allowed hooking up the hose and filling our rigs (not really allowed, but he was a nice guy). The host and the park rangers were great and very helpful.

Each site had a decent flat area with a picnic table and fire ring among the Larch trees.

We had walking/hiking trails right outside the rig. And with the exception of the mama bear and her cubs just waiting to eat me (seriously there was a sighting and the rangers walked around warning us all) - the hiking was decent. Nothing to take you out for the entire day, but enough to walk the dog.

Walking down to the lake you will find a boat ramp, a small floating dock and a rocky shoreline with a bit of a trail and some picnic benches. You are able to shoreline fish - and we heard fish tales of great success and never experienced it first hand. You can easily launch Kayaks and enjoy the lake from the campground. But leave your buckets and sand shovels at home as this is a rocky shoreline and not a friendly swimming beach.

We had easy access to Lakeside for Tamarack Brewery (great food), Spinnaker (bad beer list but great TV's for watching women's world cup soccer) and beach swimming access. A little farther out is Sommers with a great cafe (best breakfast we have had in Montana) and the Post Office (which is the best General Delivery experience ever).

So overall it was not a bust. But we did hightail it into town at the end of our reservation for dumping, endless water, air conditioning and CELL SERVICE! The area is great and a wonderful launching point for other Montana adventures.

This was a very nice campground to stay at on our way to Glacier National Park.

Our arrival was perfect and our trailer camping spot was in a really nice area. All the camping spots were immaculate. The tent spots had some spectacular views so try to get one up on top if you tent camp! We were in the B Loop that had electricity. The A Loop does not have electric and is closer to the road.

There were many hiking trails around the campground and excellent views of Flathead Lake. We hiked around some of the trails and walked down to the dock at the boat launch. There is a swimming area but it is rocky, so water shoes would be advised. There was also a kayak and paddle board rental spot down by the dock, so that’s a bonus if you enjoy those.

There are bear boxes around the area and several people tent camping were using those for their food. We didn’t see any bears but we did see some bear droppings in the area.

We also noticed that the parks department had rangers driving into the campground at least every hour to monitor the campground. That was pretty nice to make sure everything was fine in the area.

We had a great night of sleep! It was very quiet and peaceful area.

One thing I mentioned in a review I left for the parks department in Montana is that they do need more bathrooms at the campground. Our campsite was a bit of a walk between two vault toilets. There were a few camp spots that had 6-8 people staying at each site. The campground was close to full and there were lines at each vault toilet in the morning. They need to add an additional one at each spot or bring in port-a-potties for the summer months.

Other than that we had a great stay and would stay again!

This was a great campground. We stayed in the A loop, and although the B loop is closer to the water, we were super happy with our site #2. It was spacious, quiet and a gorgeous setting. There are some nice short hiking paths at the park. We also rented a kayak one day and drove around the lake another. Beautiful area.

This is a great State Park. Very busy in the summer. The upper B loop has electric, water views and you can get internet/phone. You do not get those things in the A loop. There is a boat ramp, day use area and 2.3 miles of hiking trails. Crowded and narrow roads, but definitely a park to visit!

The roads are extremely narrow, so don’t speed or you run the risk of meeting another head on. I stayed here mid May with the season just beginning and mid week. This campground filled on B loop by evening so I was glad I’d gotten here in the afternoon. Peeks are all you get of the water, but the trees provide great shade. The spot I am in isn’t bad, but the RV behind me stares straight down into my campsite so there’s not much in the way of privacy. Pit toilet was decently clean, bear boxes on sight if you’re tent camping and need to lock any attractants away from wildlife.

We stayed here for two nights on our way up to Glacier and it was a great stopping point! Campsites don’t have a lot of cover but we found one on the end of the B loop that was great and had some cell service, though everywhere else in the park it’s nonexistent. Really pretty in the spring, so much greenery and Flathead Lake is incredible, even in the rain. The hiking trails are really short but there’s some good stuff in the Flathead National Forest (Hall Lake is wonderful!). You can hear noise from the highway but it’s not insanely bad. Rangers would drive by to check in and the bathrooms were clean!

I needed a base camp on the West side and this was the only camp offering reservations prior to Memorial Day weekend. I would have stayed elsewhere if I could have gotten reservations.
The turnoff from the highway comes up quick even when you're expecting it and traffic does not like to slow down for bigger slower rigs so plan on making the turn like an Indy 500 driver. Camp road is super narrow and I was thankful that the place was nearly deserted when I arrived as I can't imagine the dance you'd have to do to pass another camper.
There are two loops - A and B. A has much smaller sites and no electric but is paved and B has some larger sites with electric hookups but the parking pads are gravel. Basic table and fire ring at each. Only the hike in tent only site T2 has direct water access, everything else is either too far uphill or blocked off by private land along the shore. Several pit toilets located throughout camp. B had a couple small trash cans and A had the main trash dumpster collection site with several cans inside of an electrified fence to keep the bears out. These dumpsters were directly behind site 7 too, might be a consideration for tenters or anyone with sensitive noses in the summer.
Sites A1-6 had a lot of tree cover and were all back in, maybe a 20' trailer could squeeze in with truck. The camp host sites are located in this group too. Site 7 was decent in size but had a severe slope to the front 1/3 of it - so much so that there were several deep gouges in the pavement from folks dragging the trailer hitches while pulling in/out. Would not recommend this site for longer rigs or anyone with a dropped hitch or low clearance. Site A8-10 basically shared one open area. I had site 8 and was thankful that 9 and 10 were empty during my stay. I was afraid that if anyone pulled into 9 and had pop outs they might whack me in the head while I sat at my fire ring - there was maybe 6' of space between the two sites! No room for a tent in any of these sites either unless you set up on the pavement. Site 11-14 were all small with lots of trees, not sure I could have fit my rig in any of them. The turning radius at the end of A is pretty tight too - some folks with a 25-ish foot trailer came through and I was expecting to hear the sounds of trees scraping and cussing but they somehow made it through. Do not go through A if you have a large rig, you won't make it. Absolutely no water access from any of the A loop sites, there are houses along the shore that block the way. Loop B sites were much larger and there were a few rigs in the 25-30' range in there. Most seemed to be open enough to allow for pops out and such. couple of the sites had glimpses of the water but no direct access due to the steep hill.
Its a long, steep walk anywhere in camp - be it back to the host site, to the toilet, to the day use area, to the beach, to the hiking trails. Bring some water and a snack if you need to trek anywhere. The whole place is built into a hill and they did a very poor job of leveling anything out. My site had a severe slope corner to corner and I had to park at a 45* angle in my site to get my rig level side to side then I had to use my parking legos to jack up the front end 3 steps to level out front to back. Once I was wedged in there I had maybe a foot of clearance to the road and my back tire was on the edge of the pavement. Pay attention to the max length listed when making a reservation - if it says 30' it means 30' and not an inch more.
The traffic on Highway 93 is heavy day and night and with a lot of steep hills in the area I could hear a lot of noise as vehicles were either accelerating up the hill or braking down the hill - especially semis with air brakes.
Overall an OK camp but not up to the usual standards that I would expect from the MT State Parks. Between the road noise, lack of privacy, and overall cramped feeling I got I doubt I'll stay here again.

We are full-timers in a 36 ft Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow and stayed in site B001 for 4 days in mid August. Our site was not level at all front to back, although the others didn't look as bad. Even with the front wheels several inches off of the ground, we still couldn’t get closer than half a bubble from level. Most sites are nicely spaced. The roads are quite narrow in places, only allowing one vehicle to pass at a time. The CG is well maintained, quiet and heavily wooded. There are no water or sewer hookups and no dump station at West Shore, the closest is in Kalispell. There are a number of short hiking trails around the CG. AT&T coverage fair, with 2 bars of LTE and speeds up to 2.5 MB/s, but throughput did fluctuate a bit. T-Mobile service was nonexistent. We were not able to get DISH coverage on any of the three western satellites at our site. There were 4 OTA channels to be had with our fixed omni antenna, but the only network channel was NBC.