Reviews of our stay in Montana

For those of you who end up with a trailer, 5th wheel, or similar, here are reviews of the RV parks we stayed in during our time near Glacier National Park.  I included a quick review of our time at Duck Lake Campground as well.  

Mountain View RV Park, Columbia Fall, MT:

Compared to the Mt. Hood Village RV Park, this park is a lot smaller, but it still had its charm and turned out to have some unexpected, yet pleasant surprises.  We learned a lesson before we even arrived…double check your site’s details closely.  We did not when booking and discovered a little too late that ours was the only site in the park without any sewer hookups.  Oops.  I guess the map should have been a dead giveaway.  😂. It turned out okay…we learned how to conserve water as much as possible and were able to move the trailer to dump during our stay.  It just took a little time and coordination to make it happen.

This park has a small but clean laundry room with three washers, three dryers, and three bathrooms, two of which have showers, which we used since we were trying not to fill our gray tanks too quickly.  Our spot in the park had an extra benefit as well.  We were next to the neighbor’s field and had two horses visit us almost daily.  They were really friendly and it was fun to watch them and have their field for our view out the back window.  The wifi was okay, but service would disappear suddenly, so it could be a bit frustrating if you were in the middle of trying to access something online when it would go down.

We learned another lesson while at the RV park from our neighbors: don’t leave your awning out when you leave, because a storm can roll through and a gust of wind can destroy it in moments.  Our neighbors saw this happen to someone else in the park…that someone’s awning ended up in the middle of the park. 😳 Our neighbors have been on the road full time four years now and have plenty of experience to share, which we have appreciated hearing about.  Another lesson they shared was to always call the places we have reservations with, just to make sure everything is as expected.  I’ll share more on this later in the Duck Lake Campground review.

It turns out, we had a lot in common with our neighbors and really enjoyed spending time with them, so we ended up eating together, hiking, playing mini golf, and more!  Scott, Tali and their kids Erik and Torsten are great people, and spending time with them ended up being one of the best parts of our time here at Glacier. 😍 We feel so fortunate to have met such sweet and generous people so early on in our travels.  Coincidentally, they are planning to stay at the RV park we came from in Oregon, and we are going to stay at another RV park they stayed at in Wyoming, so we have been able to share tidbits about the area with each other as well.  I really hope we cross paths and have the opportunity to spend time with them again during our travels.  💗

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West Glacier RV Park:

In order to have a home base closer to Glacier National Park (GNP), Matt found a spot in an RV park right outside the west entrance of GNP.  This park is relatively new, well maintained, and their laundry facilities were pretty dreamy…10 washers and 10 dryers and also very clean.  The park is about three times the size of the park we stayed at in Columbia Falls, and has cabins, shower and bathroom facilities dispersed around the park and roomy spots for everyone.  They also have a more robust and reliable wifi signal, which has been great, though it does disappear as soon as you leave the premises.

There is also a biking/walking path that takes you to the stores, mini golf, restaurant/bar, and rafting activities just outside the west entrance, so that was really convenient.  All are run by the same company called Pursuit, so it seemed pretty seamless.  Finally, the 2021 Perseid meteor shower was taking place while we were staying here.  Given the oscillation between smoke and rain, we were pretty stoked to have a clear night to lie on the picnic bench next to us, stare up at the sky and enjoy the mesmerizing blanket of stars. ✨

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Duck Lake Campground, Babb, MT:

When we coordinated with our neighbor Tali to hike up to Grinnell Glacier in Many Glacier on the east side of Glacier National Park, we knew we would need to get up early bird if we were going to find a parking spot and get on the trail before the stifling heat set in.  To make this a little easier, we decided to drive over to the eastern side of the park the night before and stay at a nearby campground.  I found this place on Google, the reviews were positive and they had availability!  It’s situated on Duck Lake on a reservation, with 6 cabins and several back-in and pull through sites next to the lake for people to spread out.  Most of the sites were quite private with lots of space in between and the lake was so beautiful!  

The one hitch in organizing this overnight was that Tali discovered our reservations through Reserve America needed to be called in to the campground so our spots would not be given to someone else.  This seemed a bit odd and I would have never known if Tali had not called to check on our reservations and get a few other questions answered.  That experience made me more aware of the fact that calling ahead is a must from hereon out!  However, the lady we spoke with lives on site and was very nice, so it all worked out well.  There is a twin bed, a bunk bed and a larger full bed in the loft area at the front of cabin loft, but you need to bring your own bedding as they only provide air mattresses.  They also provided a tv, mini fridge, coffeemaker and microwave for your convenience.

After settling in and having dinner, we walked through the campground and headed back on the shoreline of the lake, watching the sunset and discovering bugs, frogs, creations made from the rocks, and random items left behind, which made the return trip a lot of fun.  We headed to bed early, trying to get up and out around 5:15am.  However, one event Tali encountered while there was an unexpected noise in her cabin around 3:30am.  Even though the cabins are an open loft construction (no attic space), she heard a noise right above her that sounded like someone rolling around or moving furniture.  The cabins are free standing with no trees nearby, so this was strange and we still cannot explain it.  Everything turned out just fine, but it was a little eery and Tali didn’t get much sleep after that.  😱

Overall, if you are looking for a peaceful place to stay with gorgeous lake front sites, I recommend this campground.  It is a hidden gem.