Highway to Glacier National Park

For those of you who have driven your RV to Glacier NP, can you tell me what to expect for the highways there?  My plan is to go late July, so I am not expecting to see snow, but given how mountainous it is there will I be spending 1-2 days up and down very steep mountain roads to get there?  My RV does fine on the hills, but it does wear me out doing this hour after hour.  My DW suggests we camp within a day of Glacier NP and drive the dinghy there instead, staying at other lodging in the park.  I would appreciate any first hand experience with this and any recommendations for an RV parks with some scenery and with full hookups.

Thanks!
Joel

yes to your wife's  suggestion...  you will not enjoy the drive on the "Going to the sun highway" if you can't pull over every so often to see the breathtaking views...we did it with a pickup camper, and that worked good.. don't forget to stop at the top at Logan's pass and take a hike up into the clouds...unbelievable views.

Going to the Sun Road has a 21 foot length limit so driving through the park on it won't work for Joel.

ArdraF

Depends what part. I stayed in the KOA at West Glacier. Not even a problem driving up there from I 90. You did't specify which part of Glacier. It was a mile or so from the entrance...

There are several nice RV parks with a few miles of the West entrance to the park. No issues driving your RV up to the towns near the west entrance - West Glacier or Coram.

ken

Yes, our plan is to enter from the West, so RV parks or resorts to the west would be ideal.

Joel

There are several nice parks.
http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/montana/west-glacier

We have usually stayed at North American in Coram because we usually there in late September when North American has Passport America rates.

JoelP said:

Yes, our plan is to enter from the West, so RV parks or resorts to the west would be ideal.

Joel

Click to expand...

I drove in from Wye MT which is located just west of Missoula. Easy drive. It was recommended to take US 93 to US 2 for the easiest drive...

The west side of the park is quite different from the east. The west is more classic forested terrain with lakes. The east side has the rugged mountains and the glaciers, but also a lot of lakes. The approach to the west is easy, and even on the east side, the elevation at the east entrance is only about 5,400 ft, so you're not driving through a bunch of mountain passes to get there. You can't cross from one side to the other in an RV, since there's a 21' limit on that road.

The biggest campground in the park is at the western entrance. It called Apgar and is first-come-first-served. There are a lot of pull through spaces in that campground and it's a nice wooded area, but no hookups. Just outside the west entrance, you'll find the Glacier Campground. Also a nice wooded area, but with hookups. A mix of tents and RV's. It takes about the same amount of time to drive to the west or east entrances (about 19 hrs from the bay area), but there are more RV park options on the west side, for sure. Only 3-4 that I know of within an hour of the east entrance. There's lots of shuttle buses that you can jump on from the west to see the east side of the park as a day trip, so even if you stay on the west side, you can experience the other side of the park.

Don't know how long you plan to be there, but one other consideration is that if you stay on the east side, you can hop in your car and drive up across the border to Waterton Park, which is the Canadian side of Glacier. It's only about 35-40 miles from the east entrance to get there and I've been told it's even prettier than Glacier with a lot of wildlife. A nice day trip. Enjoy!