Avalanche Campground

Avalanche Campground is our favorite Glacier National Park west side campground in the main area of the park. Avalanche is large with 87 sites but still fills up early. No reservations make for a little scramble and site stalking in the mornings - we arrived on a Friday morning in July at 8:30 am and found a site, #A16, but it filled up within the hour! Our site was a nice pull through site which gave us room to drop the camper and drive around the park. This location in the park is a great basecamp for a drive over the Going to the Sun Road and the trailhead to Avalanche Lake is right at the campground and is a lovely hike. Flush Toilets, Running Water, Fire Rings, and Picnic Tables.

We changed our minds the night before arriving about what part of the park to explore so we joined the mad dash before 8 am to find a FCFS campsite! It was stressful as people exited the entrance station and made a mad scramble. We were shut out of our first choice (Sprague Creek) and got one of the last available sites here. But the upside is that we made fast friends with the people who were leaving the site we ended up occupying! The sites in Loop B have pull-through driveways and most are very spacious. Ours could easily fit our van and screen tent with lots of room left over. Lots of trees but not necessarily between sites. We were just so grateful to find a site that it didn’t even bother us (much) that the dumpster was right at our site and we would hear the occasional crash of the lid. The bathroom in the B loop was clean enough but no soap and NO lights (you needed to bring a flashlight even during the day). Favorable features of this campground are easy access to a shuttle stop and the Avalanche Lake trailhead.

Thank goodness I did my homework and didn’t go off off the reviews seeing that they were posted in 2019. You have to go on to recreation.gov to book it and good luck trying. Since Covid the parks that were FCFS are no longer.

Avalanche campground in located in one of the most popular sections of Glacier National Park west of the Continental Divide.The campground is situated within old growth cedar and hemlock trees, keeping the area cool during the summer months. The campground accommodates tent and RV campers, however only 50 sites will accommodate vehicle lengths up to 26 feet. Potable water is accessible in the campground, and restroom facilities are equipped with flush toilets and sinks with running water.Bring your hiking boots and binoculars if you are staying at Avalanche Campground. Two popular day hikes, Trail of the Cedars, and Avalanche Lake, afford visitors spectacular scenery and glimpses of birds and wildlife that inhabit the area. Plant enthusiasts will appreciate the diverse species of flora.Be sure to check out many of the evening programs with a ranger at the Avalanche Amphitheater, just a short stroll from the campground.Sites are on a first-come, first-serve basis.