Best Dispersed Camping near Eureka, MT

In this video we provide a comprehensive review of 3 of the free boondocking(dispersed camping) sites near Glacier National Park and Columbia Falls, Montana. All locations are located in the Flathead National Forest and there is a 16 day stay limit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0llxG33OdoQ 

Free Camping Near Glacier National Park- North Fork Road, Canyon Creek and McGinnis Creek Dispersed 

GPS Point for North Fork Road Dispersed Camping

48.499334,-114.131517 

Natural Spring for drinking water etc. 48.447581,-114.165680 

Conoco Station($5 Dump and Water) 48.371583,-114.203917 

Bonus Content GPS Info Canyon Creek Dispersed 48.463612,-114.167320 

McGinnis Creek Dispersed(start of road with North Fork Road Instersection) 48.52.3474,-114.128642 

McGinnis Creek Large Boondocking Area from Video 48.531014,-114.157493

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.

Very clean, open space, next to the river. Had clean toilets, big rig safe. Dry camping/dispersed camping. Beautiful views! 😍

This is dispersed camping with no amenities, but it makes up for that with the views. Pack in, pack out, LNT, and be bear aware! We pulled up in the middle of the night and had no idea the views we would wake up to. We were able to get there in a low clearance, two wheel drive in the summer, so regular cars should be fine. Be aware that there are only 1-2 spots here, however, there are plenty of pullouts along N Fork Rd. We parked at the secondary spot since the primary spot was taken at 10pm :) The site is near the western entrance of Glacier going into Apgar village.

I really enjoyed this boondocking site. They have great tent options right beside the river but not too close for flooding. Also they have a hard structured bathroom which was nice. Would stay here again. Also the road was bumpy but I managed it with my Honda Accord.

Fire pits. Easy access to the river. Ability to have some privacy from other sites. Pit toilet that was fine for a pit toilet. Stayed there sept 9-12, 2020. Right next to the to river and it’s babbling mini rapids. Standard bumpy gravel road access to Glacier national park. Also easy access to the Flathead national forest. Not too crowded while we were there. Couple RVs in the main lot area, ran generators for brief moments at reasonable times. One night only one other tent there. Another there were 5 or 6. A short walk from parking to sites but no big deal. Left our stuff each day while we went to explore glacier and came back to no problems. Limited wood in the area to burn but you can find it - especially if you have a saw/axe.

Could’ve been a really cool camping spot but after setting up camp a couple came yelling right by my van. They were part of the homeless camp and I just didn’t feel super comfortable because they were saying really aggressive things.

We stayed for 3 nights on the North fork of the Flathead river. We had been searching around for a First come First served site and hadnt found anything that looked just right. We wanted to have a little space and be on water. We arrived at the Great Northern Flats on Thursday afternoon and found a perfect site for our Bean Trailer. It was not crowded at this point, 2 other groups camping in designated spots and a few tents tucked  under the trees by the River. I  never ventured over to check out the tent sites, but I would guess they are really nice. during the weekend days, the boat ramp, which is right in campsite area was pretty busy with people putting rafts and kayaks in. this didnt bother us, as we were out fishing or visiting Glacier National Park. The River was perfect for cooling off after being in the sun. One bathroom with no water, outhouse style. Pretty clean. We enjoyed our stay and love this part of Montana.

We thought this was going to be a great place to park our TT while we explored Glacier NP. We had the campsite right by the river. Thought we lucked out. Boy where we wrong, after a long day in the NP we got back to our TT and found a note on our door and written in the dust on our trailer to move. Also found someone had messed with our TT. They turned off the propane and unhooked the hose from the tank. The locals consider this there campsite to port there boats in and out of the water. There is nothing stating this. We felt threatened and would not stay for another night.

Was a great campsite for river views and a short drive to glacier national park. River was very deep and a beautiful swim! However it’s a heavily travelled road and the boat ramp was being used quite often.

This was a nice site for the night. I came around 6pm and all 4 sites were full so we just car camped in one of the parking spots. The four spots look really nice, but they most likely fill up quick, as we came on a Monday night. It’s a very beautiful place to camp and the bathroom is a perk! I definitely recommend if wanting a free place to camp outside of the West Glacier entrance!

We stayed here in June 2019 while on a motorcycle trip.  The area is a large open spot, known to the locals, down by the river.  There are no facilities, but if that is what you are looking for, its a perfect spot.  We only had one other camper (in a car) and it was very clean.

It’s Saturday and no one is here but me. Picnic tables, metal fire rings with grills, vault toilets. Big pretty pine trees! I get one bar of Verizon service but it’s not very useful.

Cedar Creek trailhead is not officially a campground but the parking lot can be used for camping at after 5PM.  It is not massive lot, but there is plenty of space for five or six tents or car campers.  A spring runs next to the lot and if you have a filter, its makes for a great place to resupply on water.  

I stayed here in June 2022 and had no issues with locals driving up.

About 5 miles worth of very graded dirt road but if you take it slow should be accessible to all. Fire pits at some but not all sites and water is not visible until you get to the edge however it is a nice area right off of Forest road. Vault toilet available but no other services.

Stayed here from july 5-8. We packed our tent down the river a little ways for more privacy but didnt really need it. Dusty rough road but you can go in the back door of glacier and not have to wait in lines and you are on the road to polebridge mercantile. Wish i had stayed longer

Not today far from glacier, very clean and beautiful area. The gravel road leading to the area is one of the best I have experienced(flat, mostly dirt and few rocks that were worrisome) and the site had pit toilets!

I used this spot for the four days I was visiting Glacier NP. It's pretty easy to find and close to West Glacier. The dirt road is DUSTY, but it is what it is (turn your lights on so you're more visible). The dirt road and driveway is a little rough and pothole-y, but my Town and Country handled it just fine. 

Lots of sites to choose from; I was joined by a couple others each night and there was a bit of road traffic and people coming to put their rafts in the river, but it wasn't bothersome at all for me. 

Right on the Flathead River, surrounded by mountains, and it has a pit-toilet! As a solo female traveler, I would absolutely stay here again.

We loved it here and will for sure be back. But the other reviewer mentioning the locals claim to the spot for rafting is spot on. They try to intimidate and we ended up moving spots. But it was still stunning and once we decided to stay out of each other’s way we were fine.

Spent 3 nights here. Was awesome to sleep right next to the river. It has 2 pit bathroom whichwas a bonus. Took the back way into Glacier and was convenient especially when the front gate was on lockdown. Highly recommend

During the evening and early mornings this place is magical. It gets pretty crowded during the day and when people say the dirt road is dusty, you've never seen anything like this. You can't see 5ft in front of you. There are 3 RV sites and several tent sites down by the river. Place was full every night in July.