Best Tent Camping near Columbia Falls, MT

Tent Camping Reviews near Columbia Falls, MT

1171 Reviews of 93 Columbia Falls Campgrounds

• C

  Chad L.

  Guide

  Sep. 2, 2020

  North fork Flathead River dispersed camping

  Great spot on Flathead

  Dispersed campground right on the Flathead river. Great to hear the river at night. Only downsides are it’s a busy boat launch with people coming all day long and it can get loud on the weekends. Free camping with 3 day max stay. The road will likely cause need for a front end alignment as you drive from Columbia Falls. About another 10 miles (of terrible roads) on North Fork road and you are at the west entrance to Glacier and close to Apgar / Lake McDonald. We stayed for 3 days and loved it. Nature at its best.

• 

  Elizabeth N.

  Guide

  Jul. 1, 2020

  Lid Creek Campground

  Great little spot, short walk to lake

  We ended up at Lid Creek after the first few campgrounds along the lake were full.

  Sites are on the small side, and most are not very flat. There is a good amount of distance between sites and lots of trees so privacy is good.

  There are 2 clean vault toilets and trash dumpsters.

  Bear boxes are spread throughout.

  Each site has a fire ring and picnic table.

  Host on site sells fire wood.

  Lake access is a just short walk down a trail. There is a great rock beach with plenty of room for kids to play and splash.

  We encountered 2 thunderstorms during our stay... Montana weather is always unpredictable.

  We had a deer walk through our site early morning, so wildlife is definitely near by.

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• 

  GoWhereYouAreDraw N.

  Legend

  May. 28, 2019

  Bowman Lake Campground — Glacier National Park

  Another beautiful spot in Glacier!

  Be prepared for a dusty, bumpy, narrow, pot-holed drive in on the road. There's a sign at the beginning of the incline that indicates parking availability… pay attention to the sign, it will tell you if no parking is available. If the road is wet, it is treacherous! Remember to bring bug spray and bear spray, be aware of your surroundings. 

  You'll be a high elevation so be ready for cooler nights. I used my 0-degree sleeping bag, and that worked great. Limited campsites so get there early on the weekend. Several trails lead into the mountains, one leads along the lakeshore. There is drinking water, pit toilets, fire rings, picnic tables, plus some bear-proof storage boxes.Highly recommend taking the time to explore and camp at this location.

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• 

  Emmett S.

  Guide

  Sep. 18, 2024

  Stillwater River

  Beautiful Riverside Rustic

  Just about a mile from the highway, this site is right on the river with some nice deep pools. There are three separate fire rings with a vault toilet and picnic table. It's a short drive in but more suitable for truck camping, van, tent camping or very small trailer like 13' max due to narrow track and limited maneuvering area. High clearance required!

• 

  Annie C.

  Legend

  Jul. 31, 2021

  Bowman Lake Campground — Glacier National Park

  Less visited part of Glacier

  Nice NPS campground within walking distance to Bowman Lake and several trailheads. This is a good spot to camp if you plan on hikeing or boating near/on the lake. Super clean, lots of shade and hammock trees, vault toilet, first come. I was surprised there was only one bear box for the whole campground to share instead of one at each site. Especially after seeing a leather deposit of bear scat on the Bowman Lake trail. No showers here but you can pay for a shower down at Polebridge Market Place, which you want to visitor anyway for their amazing baked goods (pizza after 3 pm too!). There was a ranger hanging out in the parking lot of the trail head area if you have any questions (though her job looked to be more traffic management than anything else).

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• 

  Annie C.

  Legend

  Jul. 31, 2021

  Quartz Creek Campground — Glacier National Park

  Off the beaten path

  There are about 8 sites here, several miles down the road from the —- Glacier ranger station. It’s quiet, all you can hear is the creek and the wind in the trees. Sites 4 and 5 are the best as they are right on the creek with water access. There is one central bear box, one central water pump (currently NO water), and one clean vault toilet. You are close to a couple of trailheads as well.

• J

  Julie H.

  Scout

  Jul. 22, 2023

  Many Glacier Campground — Glacier National Park

  Fantastic experience!

  I was in site 88 which was quite lovely with the stream behind it. I fly fished there and caught some trout! It's shallow so not for swimming but nice to stick your feet in to cool off. There was plenty of room to put my 4 person tent with an awning, though the awning was slightly outside the wooden tent pad markers. There was various shade throughout the day. I did have to pack up my tent and sleep in my car as there was grizzly activity after some folks weren't thinking and left some food unattended! The game wardens WILL fine you if you leave either food and/or fires unattended. If you're solo, like I was, you really need to think ahead before you prepare food or start a fire."I had to use the restroom" won't fly with the wardens! Grizzlies don't care and that fire could start a wild fire! 

  The biggest drawback was that the dumpster was right in front of my site but mostly people were extra careful not to let the spring-loaded access door slam. There's plenty of space between sites so I didn't feel like I was crammed in there. I could barely see my neighbors through the trees/bushes. I assume they'd be easy to see in spring or late fall with little vegetation. If you need to be right next to a bathroom, this isn't the site for you. It was across the road, down a path. There isn't a bear box for food storage directly ON this site but there's one nearby to share with another site. This site was in the no-generator loop, yay! Camp host, Jane, was ridiculously wonderful! She keeps a lending library outside her RV and encourages children to go out and find "exciting things" to display on her table for all passersby to view. FUN!

  From this site, you can walk to the Swiftcurrent Inn/deli/store which has basic necessities, a lot of junk food(very little produce in the park at all!), sandwiches, cold drinks, gift type things and where you get the tokens for showers. For those who are flying and can't bring bear spray, they have it there in the store. The Swiftcurrent Inn is also the parking lot for many of the trailheads nearby. TIP: seek out Fishercap Lake, just about a 10-minute easy walk from the parking lot. Moose are almost always seen there in the early mornings and early evenings.

   If I get lucky enough to go back, I will absolutely try and get this campsite (and just about anywhere in the campground) again! I far preferred the east side to the west. I stayed at the Sprague Creek campground on the west side which was a totally different experience. I'll write a review for that one too.

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• 

  Morgan M.

  Traveler

  Jul. 1, 2020

  Fish Creek Campground — Glacier National Park

  Site D173 along Lake McDonald

  Situated along the southwest side of Glacier National Park's Fish Creek Campground, I snagged two nights at site D173 - right on the lake! 

  Follow the paved road to Loop D, and it's one of the last sites you come to. The site was extremely spacious and very clean (many of the sites at Fish Creek Campground are very small). It contained a fire pit, picnic table and outline for tent location. Plenty of close trees for hammocks. 

  Just a short walk down the hill from the site and you're on the lake! Because of the trees, there's not a great view of the lake from the site. Site D174 has fewer trees with clearer views of the lake. 

  The site was extremely close to the dumpsters (but not too close!), the bear vault was across the road and the bathrooms were maybe 100ft away (M/W - two stalls with flushing toilets and two sinks with a hand dryer). 

  I'm not much of a campground person (I prefer backpacking to avoid screaming kids and the sounds of generators), but this was sufficed for my time exploring Glacier National Park. 

  You'll see I had a tent/tarp set up the first night (I refused to be wet in my tent!), but the second night I slept in my car since I knew it would be pouring rain the next morning and I didn't want to break down camp in the rain. 

  Beware! You cannot collect sticks from the area for your fire. You must purchase firewood at Apgar Village (around $6/bundle) or collect dead branches/wood from the road to Bowman or Kintla Lakes. 

  The site host was at the start of Loop D, so she was close by for any issues (she's super nice!).

  The campground is dog friendly (I had mine with me), but know that there are NO dog-friendly trails in Glacier NP.

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• 

  Angela G.

  Ranger

  May. 15, 2021

  Apgar Campground — Glacier National Park

  Great location!

  Really excellent location right inside Glacier National Park limits and walking distance to Lake McDonald. I had very limited cell phone service with Verizon at the campground but I had 4G at the lake. The sites were spacious enough. Most sites had a semi circle type parking so easy to get in and out for trailers. Bathroom was ok but there was no soap. No wifi. Trash receptacles were available. The showers were not great. Deer frequented the sites. Proper food storage is very important. It was nice and quiet while I was there but during peak summer months would likely be very busy and crowded.