Rising Sun Campground — Glacier National Park

First come first serve, has everything you need. Campground host present, bathrooms, water spickets, camp store, showers, and restaurant with wifi. Lots of wildlife, especially bears are constantly present, so prepare accordingly. Strict rules about food storage and fire.

First come first serve sites. We filled the last spot. Ranger came by to let everyone know there was a nature talk across the main road. We walked over with a group of people. Saw a black bear at the end of the road. During the nature talk, the same bear popped out of the trees to eat some berries. The ranger warned of the black bear activity in the campground and remained people of proper food storage. 

Across the main road is an area for picnicking, hiking, and swimming. There is a nice nature trail along the water and a raised walking platform amongst the trees. The site was flat and clean. 

The restrooms were clean. The view was beautiful with trails. The back overgrown area is where the workers and volunteers camp. Showers are within walking distance at the general store. In the same parking lot as the tiny hotel and restaurant.

Rising Sun campground is closed for 2021 according to the NPS website.

The most beautiful & colorful water rocks I've ever seen. Camp spots are kind of close but you don't really see your neighbors too much. Wonderful Ranger Talk in the amphitheatre. We had to leave early due to fires (summer of 2018). Cannot wait to return. Great restaurant & gift shop!!

Be ready to come early and wait in line to grab a campsite. After 9-10am, except most sites to be full.

We got lucky and had a hard sided sprinter van. Rest of campground was evacuated with an overly aggressive black bear. BRING BEAR SPRAY, especially in August.

This was my second trip to Glacier. Later in the summer you do run the risk of forest fire smog, but I can’t recommend this campground high enough

We were roasting in the throws of Hades down at St. Mary's campground so decided to get up early and get a FCFS spot at Rising Sun, as none are reserveable (pre-covid). This campground is has trees and shade.  I arrived at 6:50am, and the car line to get on a list to put your name on a camp list with a ranger was 17 deep. They took 10 each time and assigned a spot. I waited about 90 minutes in said car line. Ranger gave a great 'bear aware' and camp cleanliness talk to the group before releasing to find assigned site. This campground is way too close for me, neighbors at every turn. Two sites over held 40 people having a GREAT time, and I would have a great time if I knew them, but since I didn't and they were drinking and smoking and laughing until 1am, I can't say they were fun. Then at 2am, four college kids next to us returned, whisper yelling not to vomit, but of course did. And I then laid awake the rest of the night worrying the vomit would attract the resident bear near our tent and my small children. Learning my lesson again, I'll avoid campgrounds and stick to the back country. Bathroom was clean, no shower. About 7 phones charging in the loo. Buy your firewood where you burn it, don't transport wood anywhere.

Location is super close to hiking, lakes, and horse back riding. Sue was our site manager and was absolutely amazing!!

The most popular campsites fill up by 9:30 pm during the busy season here, so be prepared. The campground is first come first serve only, and they recommend nothing over 25ft. If you’re visiting during the busy season, drive to your desired campsite the night before to see which people are leaving the next day (you can just look on their tags). Write down the # and get there early on the next day. There is a restaurant/motel and camp store just outside the camping area. 

I stayed on the far southwestern part of the campground and saw bears every night we were there. The bears weren’t too concerned with humans and mainly looking for trash. The campground is very strict about putting food away and they have bear lockers, so do everyone a favor and store your food/trash correctly. There are 2 shower stalls behind the camp store and it is $3.25 for 7-minute shower. The campground also has potable water and flush toilets.

Excellent hiking and great views!

The advantages here are many! Just off going to the sun road, but generally quiet. Fire pits, trees and nature around, yet very close by is a store, pay showers and a restaurant. Or just tent and do your own thing at your site. If you are a photographer, this is the place for easy access to wild goose overlook sunrise photography as less than a mile away. Also, very easy access to St. Mary 6 miles and then many glacier and other 18 miles (which is nearly impossible to get a camping spot at)

this is a perfect national park campground! flushing toilets, great tasting water, place to dump your dish water, trash, recycling, a general store that has any and everything you need! love it. best national park to boot.

plan ahead. if you can reserve a site before hand. If not plan on staying outside the park and get to the site entrance before 6AM during peak seasons. you have to wait in line during busy tourist months. The campsite has lots of spots though and is first come first serve. Bathrooms weren’t the cleanest but did have running water. No showers but you can purchase a token and take a shower at the store near camp site. Saw a deer and a fox. This is bear country and you have to store items in car or food locker.

You are pretty close to your neighbors, but if you are looking to explore the northern and southern parts of Glacier national park, this is a good spot to camp.

The campground had plenty of shady and open (sunny spots)! Also a beautiful view of the mountains or a cliff, depending on the site. The sites are relatively close to one another for the majority of the sites, but it seemed like this was normal when we drove through the other campgrounds in Glacier. The reason I would not give it more stars is because their shower 'system' is ridiculous, you pay to use the shower, however there is only shower for each men and women and it is shared with the entire campground. I spent 2 hours waiting most nights for a shower. They need to construct more showers.

Centrally located on east side of park on the Going To The Sun Road. Nice sites, never filled up while we were there in mid June. We had a family of marmots behind us and even saw a young Black Bear walk about 150’ behind us as well. About ~30 min to Many Glacier 10 min to St.Mary.

A family of black bears peacefully passed through this campground when we were there. Clean facilities and close to gorgeous hikes. A short walk to St Mary Lake.

Every time I stay at this campsite there are always bears and deer everywhere so just be bear aware. If you drive through the park on the Sun Road you can reach it a little past Jackson’s glacier overlook. Great , smaller campground with only about 20-30 spots. Easy access of Sun Road and all the hikes in the park.

The campground is great! We tried to get a spot at Many Glacier by arriving at 7am and the line of cars was all the way down then road. We failed to get a spot so we headed to Rising Sun. At that time in the morning there were plenty of people packing up and leaving. I wish we would have just came straight there. If you do not already have reservations at Many Glacier I would highly recommend going to Rising Sun.

Awesome location, right on Going-to-the-Sun Road. Campsite are a little close together but very cool backdrop and super close to the lake too. Great Basecamp for s couple days in Glacier, then I'd switch up locations

Nice campground on the Going to the Sun road. There is a store and restaurant at the campground. Not too far from everything. There are shared bear boxes and flush toilets.

This campground has a good variety from open to covered sites. Most won't accommodate a large rig setup, but you can't drive around the park with them anyways so as a tent camper you won't have to worry too much as half of them are generator free. You're right by a camp store and have easy access to the shuttle if you want to use that or right off the going to the sun road, which becomes a ghost town late at night so you won't have too much road noise. Great spot to get to some awesome hikes and one of the 2 places in the park that we ended up seeing bears. (Use a bear box for your food and toiletries!)

The part of the campground we ended up in was more open than we would have preferred despite being in the trees, but everyone else was quiet and polite so it was ok. Some of the bigger National Parks out west have free shuttle bus services and Glacier’s runs right to this campground so you can access day hiking without having to drive and park. Pros: incredible views, showers, clean, lakeside, great views, shuttle access, boat tours (worth it!!), ranger talks, choice of open or shady campsites, centrally localized. Cons: very few tent only sites, no reservations, busy (no noise issue though), fills up.

I have stayed here twice. Great variety of camping sites and I have never had an issue with noise, unlike some campgrounds in the past. Good location to get to all areas of the park.

We stayed here two nights of our trip. Fantastic campground, as are all of the campgrounds within the park. There is a small camp store that provides showers for a small fee. Close access to going to the sun road and stunning views all around.