Stop #41: West Glacier KOA, West Glacier, MT
- Denisse Storti
- Jul 3, 2024
- 3 min read
We had skipped over Glacier on the way to Banff so we decided to return to Montana in order to check it off our list. We booked at West Glacier KOA which is less than three miles from the West entrance to Glacier National Park. This KOA is open May through October but not all their amenities are open during this entire period. During our stay, only one of the pools was open and the restaurants and the cafe and ice cream shops had yet to be opened for the season. All that aside, this is the most beautiful KOA we've stayed at. It looks fairly new and it seems to be very well mantained. The grounds are nicely landscaped, the playground is by far the best we've seen at any campground (as rated by our kids - but we agree), they have an adult only pool and a family pool which is always nice for adults that want to lounge without a kid shrieking in their ear or splashing all over them (the adult pool is fairly close to the family pool so they'll still get some of the noise spilling over), and the lawn area with a airstream snack bar seems like the best summer hang out area. In addition to all this, they also have two hot tubs (very small ones), and two saunas (which take forever to heat up so turn them on way in advance from when you plan to use them). We had site 38 which overlooks the nearby trees and is a few steps from the campground trail - we loved it. The kids loved cycling around this big campground and using the playground which has a big play structure with multiple slides for bigger kids, a tetherball, a rock climbing wall, some balance/climbing logs, a rope bridge, swings, plus a play area for toddlers. Campground also has mountain views and is far from the main road making it very peaceful. I truly wouldn't book anywhere else if returning to Glacier.
When we arrived following the long ride from Banff we spent the afternoon enjoying the campground. The following day, which was also my birthday, we were ready to adventure out towards Glacier. We read that Going-To-The-Sun road was not yet fully open which was a bummer but we drove what we had access to and stopped along the way at every lookout point that looked interesting. It was a gloomy day but we still saw beautiful river views with rushing rapids and small water falls, bridges, and the gorgeous Lake McDonald. Our son had just gotten a new fishing rod so he ran as fast as he could towards the lake to give it a try. The area by the water is lovely here with colorful pink rocks addorning the lake. Both kids fished there for a while as Paul and I took in the views. These little moments where we witness their childhood is why we started doing this to begin with - experiencing some of this magic on my birthday was the greatest gift. It was a bit chilly so we then visited the Lake McDonald Lodge which has a giant fire place and a cafe. It has quite the 'mountain lodge' vibe.
We woke up to clearer skies on the following day so we decided to return to Lake McDonald to rent a motorboat and attempt fishing once again - the kids got no bites on day one. In addition to motorboats they also offer row boats, kayaks, and paddleboards for rental. They also have a cruise tour but since we had recently done this at Lake Minnewanka, we decided to venture out on our own this time around. We missed out on the history lesson about the lake but we did enjoy zipping around on our own which was also less expensive.
We had also visited the Visitor Center on day one to get Junior Ranger books so we returned at the end of day two to get badges. We also spent some time looking at the exibits there which were quite interesting.
We didn't do any hiking at Glacier as most hikes still had snow on them and we weren't up for that challenge. We had booked for four nights so we spent the last day at the campground before our next travel day.
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